World of Tainted Light
by Iced Fairy
Summary: This is a story of three adventurers, three wanderers, and three goddesses. The story of the world of Erinn. A world frozen in time. A NaNoWriMo work. G1.
1. Chapter 1

_This is something of an "Author's Note" chapter. If you are uninterested in that the story begins in the next chapter._

_This entire book is something of an exercise in hypocrisy for me. If there is one thing I can't stand it's other people writing my characters. They always get one subtle thing wrong, which gnaws at me until I can't read the work at all. In addition I have a general dislike of retellings of game plots, simply because I played the game with my character and I have my own vision of how events progressed. And yet this entire book is a retelling of a game, using two of my friend's characters.  
_

_So why did I write it? Part of it was I needed a subject for NaNo. Part of it was I needed to write it for myself. The setting of the game draws me, but the story screams at me to tweak it to make more sense. But in the end, like all writing, I can't nail down an exact reason for why I put pen to paper.  
_

_Thus if you, like me, wish to keep your own alternate selves adventures alive in your heart, I apologize. However, if you are one of the people who can read the adventures of others without your own ego insisting it be changed (or just one of my followers who knows nothing of Mabinogi), I thank you and hope my writings bring you some amusement._

_This story is complete to the end of G1, so it will be updated quite quickly.  
_

_Anyways, onward to what you came here for.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Seomara carefully put away the stiff magical pass that the succubus turned nun handed her. "This is one of the passes the Elite Fomors use to pass between worlds. I pray you don't lose it." The nun frowned. "Though I hope you're ready for what you'll find on the other side."

_This is a tale of three goddesses._

The trio looked at the black gaping maw of the mine. "It's annoying that we have to go through alone," Seomara complained as she checked to make sure her armor and weapons were all blessed.

"Eh. It's not like the path itself will be a challenge," Blurpleberry said with a shrug. The robed warrior made an attempt to smooth down his messy black hair before drawing his battle swords. "Anyway I'll see you on the other side." And with that he strode into the mine.

Seomara sighed at the warrior's impetuousness. Beside her Carnelia echoed her sigh. "Some things just don't change," the dark complexioned mage said as she shook her head. Smiling, the older woman pulled out her wand. "Well. Shall we go as well?"

Nodding, Seomara slipped on her spiked knuckles. "Yeah."

The two walked into the mine, the glowing statue of the goddess the only sign there was more to the place then a simple cavern. The two stepped on to the altar then pulled the special passes out of their packs.

"I'll see you on the other side."

_This is a tale of three heroes._

Seomara had never traveled this dungeon herself. But she knew the twisting shifting passages as well as anyone could. After all she'd run down these halls before, through the eyes of the heroes who had come before her.

The same heroes who had been betrayed and broken by what awaited her at the end.

The passage opened up into a chamber with a chest in the middle. She quickly prepared herself for what might appear when she triggered the mystical box, and then flipped it open. As soon as the lid opened seven rats appeared with a puff of foul black smoke. Seomara sighed and began advancing on the nearest rat. They were no threat, but the magic of the dungeon prevented her from advancing until all the possessed creatures were slain.

_This is a tale of three wanderers._

As she progressed further into the dungeon stronger creatures began to appear. Once the crowd of goblins attacking her would have been cause for concern. Now Seomara simply closed her eyes, held out her short swords, and spun around.

The sharp crack as unyielding metal broke through bones was comfortingly familiar. She opened her eyes to find all her opponents dead on the floor, save one who was struggling to rise. She flipped the blades over then slammed them down onto the goblin before it could recover.

As her last foe slumped to the floor in death, black smoke rose again. This time two imps appeared. The tiny forms looked harmless, but Seomara knew they could knock her flying with a single punch.

Which meant she couldn't let them get that punch off.

She quickly crouched and sheathed her blades, letting the spiked knuckles fall onto her hands. Then she exploded into motion, letting her hips drag her entire body along in a mad rush. Two steps brought her halfway across the room. The third step drove all her weight into a powerful right hook that slammed into the tiny imp's face, knocking its pointed cap to the floor.

The creature somehow stayed standing, but it was stunned. It tried to raise a club to defend itself, but it was too late. Seomara crouched again, then leaped into the air, her left knuckle trailing fire as her uppercut slammed into the imps chin and sent it flying into the sky. It crashed down and didn't move.

The other imp shouted out in panic and began channeling mana into a lightning bolt, but it was too late. Seomara rushed forward and kicked the creature onto its back before dropping onto its body and unleashing a pummeling series of blows. When she finished the small form lay crushed, a single key lying beside it.

Seomara sighed and pocketed the key as the cursed doors unsealed. It seemed Blurpleberry had been right. The path wasn't a challenge. At least not now. Once this would have been a difficult struggle, but now she barely had to pay attention.

Her mind began to wander as she delved further into the mine. How was it she and her friends had ended up here? And how would they fare battling foes so many had already fallen to?

Lost in her memories, she continued on.

_This is the tale of a lost paradise. The world of Erinn. A world trapped in time. A world whose destiny is about to change._


	3. Chapter 3

_Only been a few months earlier..._

Seomara groaned as she let the heavy traveling pack fall to the ground. "A shipment of heat crystals for you." She grabbed the trade imp off her back and dropped the annoying aide on top of the goods. "You can take him too."

The goblin trader seemed unimpressed but scribbled out a receipt. "We don't pay extra for him, but I'll credit you for the crystals. That's four thousand sixty two ducats in your account, and we'll give you one thousand gold for the transport. Thank you very much." The goblin looked up. "Do you want to transport some more goods for us?"

"Do you have anything other than ogre masks and gloves?" she asked. When the goblin shook his head she sighed and turned away. "Then no thanks. I'll see you later."

"Whenever you're interested in more money, drop by," the goblin said before returning to his ledger.

Seomara waved and turned towards the city of Dunbarton. At first she'd found the monstrous ogres, goblins, and imps staffing the trading posts to be odd. After all, Fomors and Humans didn't get along well. But after a bit of thought she decided she liked the inconsistency. If Fomors could live, and live well, among humans there was hope for a peaceful future. And it made her feel less guilty about her deadly dungeon forays.

Dunbarton was packed as usual. The small walled town didn't actually have many residents, but it was the unofficial staging point of the traveling Milletians. The city had the largest marketplace, was the endpoint for the continental teleportation system, and had a lot of skilled trainers. It was also close to Tir Chonial, where the human Milletians first stepped into the world of Erinn. So the city was always full of adventurers.

Seomara had always found that an interesting paradox. Milletians like her were one of the fastest growing races in Erinn, but they spent most of their time in the small villages of the east. The big cities of Emain Macha and Taillteann were more stop off points, and most Milletians didn't even enter the capitol Tara. The city that held so many people was just an overly large time waster for her and her fellows. There was nothing there that couldn't be found elsewhere easier.

She wondered if that was one of the reasons Milletians were still distrusted even though you couldn't tell a Milletian from an normal human, elf, or giant based on appearance. The native Tuatha de Danann never met a Milletian.

As she passed a Milletian wearing a flashing orange and red suit yelling lurid remarks to his friends across the way she considered there might be another reason their race was looked upon unfavorably.

Sighing, she turned into a side street and sat down on the steps of the library. She considered perusing the marketplace for new clothes, but her pockets weren't that deep. Trading made good money, but between bandit attacks and lack of space she couldn't carry that many goods. Her biggest concession to fashion was the rare blue rose she had tucked behind her ear. It accented her long red hair well she thought.

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

Seomara blinked and looked up. A dusky woman in a wizard's dress was leaning down to look at her. A hint of a fleeting memory told her she should know this woman, but there was nothing else in her mind. Still, she found herself trusting the woman's brown eyes and gentle smile.

"Wrong?" Seomara shook her head. "Not really. I'm just… listless I guess." She turned to look up at the sky. "I don't know what I'm doing here."

The woman nodded and sat beside her. "Nao is a nice woman, but she's not really good at giving directions. Still you know about the goddess and Tir Na Nog, right?"

Seomara sighed again. "Yeah. I know the Goddess is trapped in the world of Tir Na Nog. I even talked to Tarlach about it." The woman nodded in understanding. "But, well… I'm bad at fighting." Seomara showed the banded knuckles that she used to defend herself against bandits. "I can beat up giant spiders and the weak bandits, but that's about it. I went into Rabbie dungeon over there and the skeletons slammed me into the floor about a dozen times." She shook her head and grimaced. "If Milletians could die I'd be a goner. Even with Nao looking after me I still had to revive at the goddess statue."

The woman nodded. "Perhaps you could try magic? It's a bit slow but it can deal devastating blows."

"No offense, but magic isn't really my thing," Seomara replied. "I took Lassar's classes, but it didn't really click. I tried bows too but I'm even worse with them." She put the knuckles back on her belt. "I want to learn how to use these. I like using them. But I just can't handle more than one monster at a time. I've had to swap to short swords for most of my fights, and even then I tend to get in trouble fast."

"I see..." The woman frowned in thought.

Seomara leaned back on the steps. "So, yeah. I want to help, but there's really not much I can do. There are hundreds of fighters better than me. If I'm not wasting Nao's time, maybe they can help save the Goddess."

She hated the words as soon as she said them, but it was the truth. Someone like her couldn't defeat the monsters in the simplest of dungeons, much less the monsters she'd seen in the memories of the warriors who had tried to free the Goddess before her.

Suddenly the woman stood up and grabbed her arm. "Ah! What are you doing?!" Seomara yelped as the woman pulled her to her feet.

The woman let go and bowed in apology. "I'm sorry, I didn't properly introduce myself. I'm Carnelia."

Seomara shuffled nervously. "Uh, hi. I'm Seomara. Um, so why did you need me to stand?"

"Because I'm going to help you become a better fighter," Carnelia smiled brightly. "I'm not a master myself, so I can't train you directly, but I can give you a few pointers."

"Huh?" Seomara blinked. "I mean, that's nice but I don't want to eat up your time. And most dungeons I just end up on the ground dead, so..."

"Don't worry, this time I'll be there to protect you. And don't worry about the time. I like helping people, so it's not a big deal." Carnelia held up a small four leaf clover. "Besides, there's a special dungeon that just opened up. It should be a little easier than the normal fare."

Seomara found herself smiling in return. "Fine. But if I end up dead you'll have to pay for the Phoenix Downs."

"Of course," Carnelia waved her hand and summoned her horse. "Shall we get going? I imagine Rabbie dungeon will be quite busy soon."

"Might as well." Seomara summoned her own steed and hopped on.

The two adventurers clattered out of town, heading towards the ruins to the north.

* * *

Rabbie dungeon looked like someone had blasted a tower to pieces, leaving only the basement floor remaining. While close to the town of Dunbarton, the area was quiet and dark compared to the farmlands nearby. Seomara slowed as they approached the stairway down, remembering her last attempt at the dungeon.

Carnelia on the other hand strode confidently ahead, only pausing to place two jeweled puppeteer bars on her belt. "You know how to summon combat puppets?" Seomara asked. She'd seen the skill in action before but it was apparently an incredibly difficult technique to master.

Carnelia shook her head. "Not well. I know the basics, but not much more. I mainly use these as melee weapons. The magic in the strings helps me channel my power better. I prefer spells, but the rabble in this dungeon isn't really worth it most of the time."

"I... see." Seomara frowned and looked down at her feet. It seemed Carnelia was much stronger then she was. She hoped she wasn't wasting the other woman's time.

"Don't look embarrassed." Seomara started as Carnelia patted her on the back. "I've been training over a hundred and fifty years to learn everything I know. It'd be bad if I wasn't strong."

Seomara flushed a little at being caught. "Sorry. You're right. I shouldn't expect to know everything in four years." She turned back towards the dungeon entrance and carefully made her way down the crumbling stairs.

Rabbie's brick walls seemed more like a brightly lit catacomb then a traditional dungeon. The skull ornaments and wall sconces only reinforced that feeling. There were only two things out of place in the altar room. One was the serene statue of the Goddess, glowing stone a testament to the sacrifice Morrigan had made sealing the Fomor realms. The other was a young man with unkempt black hair and a bored expression who seemed to be wearing a robe made out of a shark. While the outfit looked odd, he held himself with a confident bearing. Two longswords sat at his waist, and metal gloves covered his hands.

The man's expression brightened as Seomara and Carnelia entered the room. "Oh hey! Are you running the Leprechaun dungeon? I used up all my clovers, so I was waiting for someone to come along."

Carnelia looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, so Seomara shrugged. He didn't seem that much crazier than the average Milletian. And another body to distract the skeletons was always a good thing. The older woman nodded, then turned to the man. "I suppose you can tag along. What's your name?"

"Blurpleberry," he said as he waved. He nodded at Carnelia and Seomara's introductions then ran to stand over the altar area. Seomara was a little more hesitant as she walked onto the patterned platform, but she forced her nervousness down. She put her knuckles on and waited for Carnelia to open up the labyrinth.

Carnelia looked over to make sure her allies were ready before dropping the clover. As soon as the item hit the altar's surface the world seemed to shift and bend. The statue of the Goddess was still there, but the passage up was gone. Instead there was now a dark staircase heading down.

Blurpleberry was already on the move, drawing his long battle swords as he headed down. Carnelia was quick to follow, drawing her enchanted control bars. Seomara hurried after. She was still a little worried about the dungeon, but she didn't want to be left behind either.

The room below had another Goddess statue. Each of the adventurers made sure to touch its base, allowing the mystical energies within to synchronize with their life force. Now if they were 'killed' they could revive here, though it would still place a strain on their bodies.

As they turned to the open passage to go deeper into the dungeon Blurpleberry waved his hand to summon a mount. Seomara blinked at the strange spectacle, but Carnelia just coughed loudly. "We were thinking of a more sedate run."

"Oh, okay then." With a wave the horse disappeared into light again and Blurpleberry began jogging into the dungeon instead.

Carnelia sighed. "Well, I suppose you'll learn more this way."

"I've already learned how to rush a dungeon. Though I imagine it's hard on the horse," Seomara replied as they followed along.

They caught up to the swordsman at the first chest room. Apparently their new ally was wise enough to wait for them to arrive before triggering the monsters. In fact he was polite enough to let themselves get positioned before triggering the chest.

Seomara tensed as black smoke rose all around her, then sighed as the forms of rats appeared. She had no idea why rats were part of the dungeon's defenses, but they were no threat whatsoever. She got ready to kick the nearest one away, when a shockwave slammed into the small creature sending it to the ground. Gasping in surprise Seomara looked up to see Blurpleberry crouching both swords outstretched. The warrior stepped back, recovering from his windmill strike, before casually slashing one of the rats that had survived. "How?" she asked. "Your sword didn't even hit them."

"Wind pressure cut," he said. "You get it at the higher ranks. You should train that skill. It's really useful for wiping out dungeon trash."

Seomara frowned. "So how do you train it? Well I mean I know how in theory, but there's no way I can use it effectively right now. It really sucks. And flailing away against rats isn't going to teach me anything."

"Fight zombies. They're slow, but hard to kill. They'll teach you the right way to do a windmill attack without getting caught up in bones and stuff." The man frowned. "But I don't remember the range being that bad when I started out."

"Knuckles don't have the range your blades or my wand has. It's easier to counter an enemy's blows with your hands, but that requires a one on one fight," Carnelia said as she pocketed the key that one of the rats had dropped. She smiled at Seomara. "You might want to train with those swords of yours. At least until you master the skill more. Blurpleberry here is right. The ability to strike all the foes surrounding you away is an essential combat skill."

"Right!" Already she was learning important techniques! Seomara pulled out her short swords to try to get a feel for the distance.

As she took a few experimental swings, Blurpleberry walked closer. "You haven't personalized your weapons?"

"Huh?" Seomara looked over at the swordsman. "Personalize?"

He pointed at her blades. "I can tell you've worked with those swords a lot by the way you hold them, but you're compensating for the flaws in the blade instead of fixing those flaws. You should have a smith tweak those blades to better fit you. Probably won't even cost much for short swords like that."

"That's amazing." The two looked over to see Carnelia tapping her chin in thought. "I didn't think it was possible to see that level of detail without inspecting the blade closely. You seem to be very knowledgeable about swordwork."

Blurpleberry shrugged. "Of course. I'm going to be the best swordsman ever. I've gotta learn how to do things like that."

"The best swordsman ever, huh?" Seomara considered the bold proclamation. "Why that?"

"Well who wants to be the worst swordsman ever? Obviously being the best swordsman is what you want to be right?" Blurpleberry looked as if the answer was simple.

Carnelia shook her head. "Somehow I think there's a few missing steps in that logic, but I won't press the point. It is good advice Seomara. You should probably look into it with the money we get here." She began moving towards the next room. "We should probably move on however. Time flows swiftly for us. There's no need to rush, but lazing about is bad too."

The trio fought their way further into the dungeon, stopping only at one of the strange subterranean herb patches to gather some of the magical plants. Seomara grabbed a few for herself, remembering the hardy plants could be installed in her homestead, despite the snow. As they breached the inner depths skeletons started to appear, but with Carnelia's magical firebolts and Blurpleberries whirling steel, Seomara only found herself bounced off the floor once. And she'd managed to catch and break off the offending monster's arm before it could finish her off.

Finally they found themselves before the massive door that led to the boss of this Dungeon. Seomara rubbed the wounds that Carnelia had healed, amazed at how quickly the confident woman's magic had cleared up the damage. "So are we ready?"

"Eh, this won't be much of a fight," Blurpleberry said as he turned the key in the massive lock. The door swung open revealing an evil looking leprechaun. Seomara cautiously advanced on the creature, while Carnelia summoned mana to form a flame on her staff.

Blurpleberry on the other hand simply ran forward. The leprechaun raised his staff to call forth some magic, but the warrior just ran the Fomor through before cutting its head off with his offhand blade. The creature fell dead as the exit room opened up. "Loot time," Blurpleberry said happily as he ran towards the end room.

"Well that is a way to handle it I suppose," Carnelia said as she banished her magic. Seomara shrugged. It had worked after all.

As the two began walking towards the exit, Carnelia looked quizzically at her. "I'm a little curious though. Why didn't you use any fighter skills?"

Seomara blinked. "Fighter skills?"

"Yes. Fighters have a number of unique skills. Like the ability to rush into battle with a strong punch. Or kick their enemies across the room," Carnelia made a few jabs for effect. "I imagine they aren't as powerful yet for you but..."

Seomara blushed with embarrassment and looked away. "I... don't know any. I haven't even seen those skills before." How could she be so ignorant?!

"Really?" Blurpleberry looked out towards them. "There are always a few running about. At least in the dueling grounds. I know there's a guy in Belvast that's got some skills too, though he only teaches people who already know the basics. I suppose you can't learn it from them."

"I haven't seen any books on the subject either," Carnelia said with a thoughtful frown. "I heard there was a master in Emain Macha, but I don't know anything beyond that." The magician sighed. "Sorry to get your hopes up."

"No, that's alright." Seomara waved off the woman's apology. "You've already helped me a lot. I should find some things out on my own."

Carnelia smiled. "Well if you ever need any aid and you see me in the area, please don't hesitate to ask me. I like helping people out."

"And if you need someone to help stab people you can ask me to run with you," Blurpleberry said.

"Hm?" Carnelia looked over at the swordsman. "Why haven't you taken your treasure yet?"

The man shrugged. "It was your pass so you should take first pick right?" Seomara couldn't help but smile. It seemed the swordsman had a sense of honor, even if he was too quick to rush into battle.

"Thank you." Carnelia opened one of the boxes, revealing a flood of gold and a pouch. Seomara turned toward the nearest chest and opened it for herself. The gold quickly disappeared into a pouch, while the green dress that was within she stashed away for later.

"Sweet." Seomara turned to see Blurpleberry holding up an intricately forged great sword. "Third one. I might have enough by the end to forge a spirit weapon." The man waved. "Anyway thanks again. And see you later." With that he touched the statue in the middle of the room to return to the ruins above.

Carnelia shook her head again, but the dusky wizard was smiling. She moved to touch the statue as well, and Seomara followed suit. They arrived just in time to see Blurpleberry vanish with another party of adventurers from the altar. "Well then. I should look into getting more herbs for my potion skill. So, what are your plans Seomara?"

Seomara thought about the things she'd learned in this quick dungeon run. "I think I'll get my weapons fixed up then look for zombies. Do you know where you can find them?"

"Indeed," Carnelia nodded. "Tara has something of an infestation in the dark corners of the Shadow Realm."

"Then Tara it is!" Seomara waved to her new friend. "Thanks for everything. If there's any way I can help you in the future don't hesitate to ask."

"I will," Carnelia said as they climbed the stairs out. They waved one more time before each summoned a steed and ran off in different directions. Carnelia to the herb fields below Dunbarton, Seomara to the trading post.

After all if she was going all the way to Tara, she might as well make some money along the way the young adventurer reasoned.


	4. Chapter 4

Soemara groaned and flopped on her back next to the stonehenge. Her arms were sore and her swords battered. Worst of all she was bored. Really, really, bored.

After a few moments looking up at the sky she pulled herself to her feet and stowed her weapons. She'd have the guard's weaponsmith take a look at them later. For now she just wanted to wander around a bit. She considered calling on her magical abilities to go to the continent of Iria, but while its wide open plains were inviting, the sun would be setting soon closing the mystical gates that allowed passage over the mountains. She'd be better off waiting for the moon to rise so she could travel to another city. Maybe Port Cobh so she could get some fishing in.

She strode through the fields north of Tara towards the moongate, ignoring the dire wolves that roamed the area. She'd heard rumors that the Fomors were controlling the beasts to make life for the citizens harder, but since the only thing at the north of the city was the trading post, it didn't seem like that great a plan. For that matter even the weakest warriors could dispatch the wolves with ease. Every now and then an up and coming Milletian wiped out the lot.

As she reached the gates she saw a familiar figure in a wizard's dress waiting next to the stone portal. "Hey! Carnelia!"

Carnelia turned and smiled as Seomara waved. "Oh. Hello Seomara. Were you helping run missions for the court as well?"

Seomara grimaced and shook her head. "No. Fighting a bunch of alchemists and Golems in their fortress seemed like a bad plan for me right now. I was training against the zombies like you and Blurpleberry suggested."

Carnelia winced in remembered pain. "Ah yes. I remember doing that myself. How much progress have you made?"

"I've learned a lot actually!" Seomara smiled remembering how much further she'd gotten. She'd even managed to generate a small air pressure cut with her last strikes. "But... I'm not sure if I'm learning anything more. I may have to find stronger zombies. If there are such things."

"Ah," the wizard woman nodded sagely at that. "Yes that happens often. Especially since you're just starting to learn the combat arts. Enemies become easier fairly quickly. I might be able to help you there." Carnelia tapped her clothes. "This wizard dress isn't just for show you know. It acts a little bit like training weights when you need it to. I could let you borrow it a bit, until you finish your training. That should help you gain mastery of the skill."

Seomara stepped back waving her hands in front of her. "Um, that's really nice of you but I wouldn't want to trouble you like that. I mean I'd literally be taking the clothes off your back here."

"Eh?" Carnelia cocked her head. "Don't worry. I have other outfits I can use."

"I didn't really mean it that way," Seomara said, fiddling with her hair. She really could use the help, but she didn't want to be a burden. Especially considering that strange intuition of hers was telling her that Carnelia was far too eager to sacrifice time and money to help others. She decided to defer the issue instead. "Anyways my arms are too sore to even consider making any more runs today. I'll think about it later."

Carnelia seemed to take her excuse at face value. "I totally understand. Constant training on that might work physically for us Milletians, but it still is mentally exhausting." The wizard woman crossed her arms. "So what are you planning to do now?"

"I'm not really sure. I was considering Iria, but the mana tunnels will close soon." Seomara considered her options. What were you planning on?"

Carnelia held out a scroll. "I have another mission from the court. Taillteann's been having some problems with enemy war parties again. I was going to clear that up quickly. After that...? I heard there were some bandit problems down in Emain Macha. But I'll probably leave that up to people who actually trade and just work on my alchemy skills some more."

Seomara smiled. "Do you mind if I go with you then? It would be nice to talk with someone, even if it is just in a fight. Zombies aren't great conversationalists."

Carnelia grinned in return. "No they aren't, despite all the noise. And I'd be glad to have you along. It'll be nice to see some of the skills you've learned since our first meeting."

* * *

Emain Macha was an odd town, Seomara thought. It was a largish city, but there were less people then you would have expected. The ravages of the war had taken a toll on the population of the city. The most obvious change was the lack of ship traffic. The lake that gave the city its name was fed by a river that passed right by Tara, and it flowed into a stream that fed into Sen Mag's waterways. But there were no boats that traveled the waters. The only remaining pier had been taken over by a restaurant, and a massive bridge crossed the lake to reach the vital mining town of Bangor. Seomara wasn't sure what horrors had forced the residents to abandoned the waterways, but given how touchy everyone was on the subject, she figured it was pretty bad. Because of that the city that had apparently once been important enough to warrant a castle and a governor with a full honor guard of Paladins was possibly the quietest city on Uladh. Tara and Talliteinn were filled with the normal citizens, while Dunbarton and Tir Chonial were full of adventurers like herself.

A tug on her fishing line distracted her from her musings. She quickly began to reel in the line, while still making sure not to pull too hard on the rod. Seomara had taken to fishing like a duck to nuclear physics, but after a lot of lost bait she'd become passingly decent at it. Thirty seconds of violent effort brought her catch bursting free from the waters of the lake. A glistening shiny... pair of boots. She sighed. "Well at least I can sell them to Osla." She put them in her sack to sell for a couple of gold, and headed back into the city.

One quick stop by the blacksmith's later she wandered back to the town square's benches to continue her leisure time. Here she could relax and just enjoy the sounds of the city. The fountain in the center of town burbled happily, a pleasant sound to accompany the taste of the strawberries she'd acquired. A family bustled past where she was sitting, heading towards the puppet workshop. In the background she heard the two flower girls start hawking their wares, and she idly wondered who had drawn their attention.

It was only as her eyes started to flutter shut she recognized the strange lethargy that had consumed her. With that realization she relaxed completely and let her consciousness fade.

The hooting of owls awakened her almost immediately. She opened her eyes to find herself standing on the strange mark that was the Soul Stream, the mystical gate that allowed her and the other Milletians to enter the world of Erinn. Before her a stairway led up into the sky, while behind her another set of stairs headed down through the clouds.

The owls called out again, and a column of light appeared in the air, quickly to be replaced by a woman in a black dress with silvery white hair. She gracefully landed on the center of the seal before bowing slightly to Seomara. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too, Nao," Seomara replied.

Nao was the guardian of the Soul Stream, and thus the first person any Milletian met. The woman was also something of a quasi-divine being. Apparently the Tuatha de Dannan couldn't even see her. Beyond that little was known about her. She was kind, and helpful, but the two times Seomara tried to ask Nao about her past the woman politely declined to answer. Still Seomara owed Nao a great deal.

"I hope you're enjoying your time in Erinn," Nao said. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"Actually, now that I'm used to the process, I am a little curious at how you manage to pull me up here. And why you do it?" Seomara blinked then rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment as she realized how her words might be taken. "Um, not that I'm mad about it or anything. I'm just kinda curious is all."

Nao's eyes opened wide in surprise, then she chuckled. "No offense taken. In fact I'm a little impressed. Not many Milletians think to ask questions like that." The guardian of the soul stream smiled gently. "The how is simple. You are connected here by the Soul Stream. It's the same reason you can't be permanently killed, and why you aren't stuck in this world. As for the why," she held out a small package. "It's your twentieth birthday, I wanted to give you a present. And to offer you to opportunity to rebirth of course."

"Thank you," Seomara carefully took the item and stowed it away. She hesitated a bit before asking, "I don't suppose you can tell me any more about Tarlach or the Goddess can you?"

Nao shook her head. "I'm sorry. While the tasks my friend has given you are difficult, if you can't overcome them you can't overcome the final obstacle."

Seomara sighed, then smiled in apology. "No it's fine. I understand." She opened her mouth to ask another question, but stopped herself. Nao helped all the Milletians. Taking up her time with silly questions wouldn't be fair. "Anyway, thank you again. And I would like to rebirth. I'm not sure why but it helps me learn faster."

Nao chuckled. "One of the mysteries of the universe I guess. Perhaps you'll learn why at some point. In any case take care. And remember to have fun."

The world went white again.


	5. Chapter 5

Seomara stretched and opened her eyes. She was once again in Emain Macha, standing next to the bench she'd fallen asleep on. She could have dismissed the whole episode as a dream, except there was a pendant in her hand, and her body was three years younger. She looked around to make sure her appearance hadn't disturbed anyone, but apparently people had gotten used to Milletians appearing and disappearing. For that matter, it didn't look too different from a teleport, and anyone could do that.

She put the pendant on, then frowned as she picked up her pack. The downside of eternal youth once again made itself apparent. It was easier to train new skills mentally, but rebirthing undid most of the effort she'd put into toning her body. "Oh well, have to restart from scratch," she said with a shrug. And she already had a good idea where to start. Trading.

The Emain Macha trading post was at the upper gate to the city. The one that led to the narrow mountain pass to Dunbarton. Seomara headed towards the goblin trader to inquire what goods were available, when to her surprise the imp in charge of the market ran up to her.

"Excuse me miss, do you have a moment?!" The imp continued before Seomara could even process the question. "Our trading post has been having a real problem you see. A new bandit leader, "Horrifying" Herbert has been raiding our shipments. Specifically, our prized berry granola shipments. We need someone like you to help get rid of him!"

"What?" Seomara stared at the imp. She knew the little creatures were lacking in common sense but this was beyond the pale. "I don't know why you think I'm capable of killing off a bandit leader, much less one who's dangerous enough to get known as 'Horrifying' by the other traders."

"Oh, that's his old nickname from back in Belvast. He's ugly even for an ogre," the imp explained with a wave of his hands. "He's still fairly new to the bandit business."

The pit that had started to form in Seomara's stomach grew. "Oh, he's just an ogre. Lovely." Wild ogres were tough, but easy to bait into bad attacks. The weakest of civilized ogres were at the limits of her skills, and bandit leaders never attacked alone. "Look I appreciate you're having a hard time, but you should find a skilled warrior for this. I can't take on an ogre and his gang."

The imp leaned back at her refusal, but it quickly recovered. "Well then maybe you could help out other travelers. It's best to trade in groups after all! And you Milletians don't die if you lose so it's really no risk! Unlike our human traders. You'd be doing them a favor!"

"That's-" Seomara stopped. The imp was right about that last part. She couldn't really die. Sure she could be knocked back to the Soul Stream if things really went bad, but there was no known way of permanently killing a Milletian. The regular humans of this world had no such recourse.

Seomara didn't like it. It seemed unfair that she should have to risk serious bodily injury all the time just because she was expendable. But it seemed even worse to let someone else die just because she didn't want to be a punching bag for some bandits.

She closed her eyes in resignation. "Fine. I'll wait for the next group."

"Actually we just sent two girls with a shipment of berry granola out towards Tara right now," the imp replied cheerfully. "They're new, so they're only using hand carts. You should be able to catch up with them quickly."

Seomara mentally cursed the little imp. "Right then. If I pull this off there had better be a reward." She quickly grabbed her weapons then summoned her mount. The steed reared as she hopped on, seeming to sense her agitation and haste. Kicking herself for making that mistake, she spent a moment patting the beast on the side before sending him into a gallop down the cobblestone streets of Emain Macha. She knew where the most likely ambush point was along the Blago Prairie, and if the girls had left before she'd shown up, they would be reaching that point very soon.

The moon had started to rise as she burst out of the small forested area that surrounded Emain Macha and into the plains themselves. Blago Prarie was mostly open, so she could clearly see two handcarts working their way along the road in the distance, straight towards the small pass that separated the flatlands from Tara's wineries. She swore as she tried to hurry along. That pass was the perfect place for an ambush, and there was no way she would make it until after the battle started. Worst of all she was still weak from just rebirthing. This was going to be a wreck.

The sound of bowstrings reached her ears as she entered the far end of the pass. Sure enough the bandits had been waiting there. She galloped around the first bend, then rolled forward as she unsummoned her mount. The impact with the ground drew a grunt from her, but she managed to recover quickly and take stock of the situation.

There were at least eight bandits here; humans, goblins, and imps alike. They had fanned out to surround the two women they had ambushed. However, the two travelers had managed to turn their carts into a makeshift barricade, allowing them to fight back to back. From the cursing of the bandits they were obviously doing a decent job of holding their own.

Seomara put that aside and concentrated on her own fight. Two archers and a wand wielding imp were between her and the traders. She flipped out her short swords and moved to handle them.

The imp turned to face her as she ran behind the three. "Hey who are y-." The small bandit's question was cut off as she spun, swords extended. It was a poor imitation of Blurpleberry's attack, but it worked. The imp and one of the archers were sent to the ground. She moved to finish off the archer as he rose, her swords flashing across the man's thigh and neck. The man collapsed back to the ground with a whimper.

She turned just in time to catch an arrow to the chest. The missile sent her stumbling back with a cry. She felt arrowhead against her flesh, but the padding she wore under her silk dress stopped most of the damage. Ripping out the arrow, she charged at the archer as the masked man drew his bow back again.

Seomara tried to duck the next attack, but she was too slow. This arrow struck her in the shoulder, causing her to grunt in pain. It was still mostly blocked by her armor though. She forced herself to keep moving and slashed the bow out of the man's hands as he tried to draw another shot from his quiver.

Cursing, the man threw a right hook at her. She simply leaned back in response, then allowed her body to fall forward while swinging her sword. The blow smashed into the archer's leather chest protector, driving the man to the ground. She took the moment's respite to pull the second shaft from her arm.

Her opponent quickly drew a knife while regaining his feet, setting the blade and running forward with deadly intent. Seomara set herself up as if she was going to try to meet his charge, then neatly sidestepped and tripped the man as he thrust the blade at her. He stumbled to the ground where a solid boot to the side of his head made the man go limp.

Before she could celebrate her victory, the rumble of heavy footsteps made her freeze. Whirling she found herself facing an ogre wielding a massive metal hammer. "You should've just given us the goods!" the huge monster roared, slamming his weapon into the ground for emphasis.

"Like hell! We're not going to just hand over this stuff to a bunch of stinking bandits," an icy voice rang out from where the carts stood.

"Ysolte, don't taunt them!" The second woman sounded more frightened then her partner, but there was no trace of panic.

Seomara felt her resolve strengthening. If she could beat this foe here there was a good chance everyone would get out okay. She clutched her blades and readied herself for the ogre's attack. "You should just go home. There's no profit here."

The ogre pushed forward with lumbering steps. "Get out of the way!"

She rushed forward herself instead. As the ogre raised its hammer she paired her swords at her hip, then swung them both upward with all her strength. Her blades slammed into the ogre's bracers as it smashed down. The impact nearly knocked her swords out of her hand, but the ogre cried out and let its right arm fall limp. Forcing herself to ready her blades again she thrust both swords out weakly. She managed to break the bandit's armor, but her small blades didn't manage to push past the ogre's fat.

Her reward was a bone smashing kick that sent her sprawling. She cried out to suppress the pain, then jumped back as she reached into her potion belt. She thanked the Goddesses that ogres were slow and potions were small as she downed the healing shot, then regained her fighting stance.

As the ogre moved in to finish her off she attacked again, this time cutting low as she rolled forward. The ogre bellowed in pain as its calves were cut, then gurgled as she leaned back and plunged both short swords into its lungs.

She sighed in relief as the creature fell forward, dead.

Turning she saw a blue haired woman in a laced shirt and skirt finish off the swordsman that was bothering her by slamming his head into one of the carts repeatedly. On the other side the woman's brown haired companion managed to use her waitress uniform's apron to tangle a bandit's sword before kicking him in the groin. As the goblin groaned and passed out the remaining two bandits turned and fled.

Seomara flicked the blood off her swords before jogging over to the two other women. "Are you two alright?"

The brown haired woman smiled weakly. "Yeah. Thanks for your help."

"I suppose you saved us some trouble," the blue haired woman replied. "Anyway we'd better be on our way."

Seomara frowned. "What you should do is get those carts back to Emain Macha. There's another ambush point a little further ahead, and there's no way that ogre was the real boss behind these raids. This run's a bad idea."

"Really?!" The brown haired woman seemed worried again. "Maybe this was a mistake Ysolte…."

"Come on Cecilia! This was your idea. Those stinking bandits shouldn't stop us," Ysolte snapped.

The whistle-crack of an arrow hitting one of the carts forced the three women to dive for cover. "Damn it," Seomara hissed as a series of figures moved out of the hills. "Here we go again." She looked over at the two women, then at the advancing bandits. She wouldn't have surprise this time, but maybe she could pull it off anyway. At least she could give the other women enough time to escape. "Alright, I'll try to get rid of the archers. Try to hold out until then."

"Don't do anything too stupid," Ysolte offered as Seomara dashed out from behind the carts. Three arrows flew past, but none of them hit at this range. She circled around to avoid the melee bandits then charged the archers.

As she rushed forward she was struck by four more arrows and a lightning bolt. Every time she staggered but kept moving forward. She couldn't lose here.

Finally she reached the enemy lines. One of the archers dropped their bow to fight her hand to hand, but she rushed past the man. Once she was in the middle of their ranks she spun her swords about in a whirl of steel. The attack flowed perfectly, a freak chance of luck perhaps. When her foes' bodies hit the ground it almost felt like an anticlimax.

"Look out!"

Seomara barely managed to turn and raise her blades before a massive axe blow sent her flying. Her head was ringing and her swords had fallen somewhere. She managed to rise to her feet only to find herself looking at the largest ogre she'd ever seen. Its face was covered in bandages, leaving only its narrowed eyes to glare down at her. She froze in panic as the creature raised its axe again.

A blue streak entered in from the side, slamming into the massive ogre. Seomara's terror turned to amazement as a simply dressed man unloaded a string of martial arts combos into the bandit ogre. The chain of attacks almost looked like it was choreographed, but the blood splatter and pained roars made it obvious each blow was striking deep.

After many hits the massive ogre managed to get in a blow; a simple poke from his axe handle that forced the man to tumble backwards. The bandit didn't bother to continue the attack however, simply turning and running back towards the hills.

She quickly saw why. Where Ysolte and Cecilia had been defending their carts a blond woman was fighting as well. Her moves weren't quite as fluid as the man's were, but their effects on the bandits were just as pronounced. Soon all the marauders were either on the ground or running after their boss.

Seomara allowed herself to fall to one knee. It seemed the battle was over.

The blonde woman adjusted her glasses before surveying those still standing. "I'm glad Kaene and I managed to get here in time. Are you all okay?"

"We're... we're fine," stammered Cecilia.

Soemara rubbed at the cut down her right arm and winced. "I'll live."

The woman turned to her and gasped. Apparently her wounds looked worse then Seomara'd imagined. "Oh my! We should get you to the healer fast!"

"Please?" Seomara replied.


	6. Chapter 6

"How did you manage to get this injured?!" the blue haired healer, Agnes if Seomara remembered right, asked. "For that matter how are you still standing?! Eight of your ribs were broken, you had severe lacerations, and there was foreign material in both your arms."

"Milletians feel less pain," Seomara replied weakly. And she was very very glad of that fact. She couldn't remember if she'd ever suffered injuries this bad before coming to Erinn, but she was certain the healer's diagnosis was correct. She should have fainted from pain as soon as the fighting stopped.

"Well, don't make a habit of proving that." Agnes finished bandaging the wounds then pulled out a healing wand and quickly fixed the remaining damage with her magic. "There. Try to take care of yourself in the future, okay?"

Seomara bowed in apology. "Yeah, I'll try. Sorry to trouble you." She paid, then quickly ducked out of the room. She always felt bad taking up a healer's time. It was something she did too often.

She sighed and stretched as she continued out into Emain Macha's main square. She had to put those minor things out of her mind. The important part was the bandits hadn't managed to kill her, or anyone else.

As she arrived she saw the two traders, Ysolte and Cecilia, standing together by the fountain, but there was no sight of the two fighters who'd saved them. Seomara waved and approached the two women. "Hey. Um, I don't think I got to introduce myself what with everything. I'm Seomara."

The two turned to face her. "Ah! I'm Cecilia, and this is my friend Ysolte. Thanks for helping us out back there," Cecilia said with a smile.

"Even if you ended up getting rescued along with us in the end," Ysolte muttered.

Seomara flinched, then sighed. "Yeah. I know I'm not much of a fighter. But that stupid imp talked me in to trying. It worked out in the end though, since those other two showed up. That Keane fellow and his friend seemed like quite the martial artists."

"I know! Wasn't he wonderful?!" Seomara leaned back a bit as Cecilia leaned forward. She swore there were stars in the girls eyes. "He was so strong and manly and…"

"I don't know why you're obsessing over him. He seemed like just another scruffy guy." Ysolte muttered. "You should forget about the bum."

"But his smile was so dreamy!" Cecilia sighed. "Come on, Ysolte." Seomara blinked as Cecilia turned to her and grabbed her hand. "You understand, right Seomara?"

"Um…." Seomara looked for an escape. This discussion was not what she'd been expecting. "I mean, I don't think he's ugly, but I'm kinda more interested in his martial arts skills."

Cecilia's eyes sparkled. "I see I see." Seomara was pretty sure the girl didn't see, but she was fairly certain nothing she said would change things.

"You know he was with that Mina girl," Ysolte pointed out. "And he wasn't even polite enough to stick around."

"She's obviously his apprentice!" Cecilia responded. "And they said they had an important meeting in Tir Chonial! You can't get hung up about that."

Ysolte rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever." The blue haired woman turned and stalked off.

Cecilia pouted, then turned to Seomara. "Sorry about that. She's always been a little temperamental."

Seomara shrugged. "No worries. It's not your fault."

"Thanks." The young woman froze, then pouted again. "Oh darn! I was going to ask her a favor!" Her eyes fixed on Seomara. "Could you perhaps help?"

"Maybe?" Seomara hesitated. "What specifically do you want?"

Cecilia sighed. "Well I'm stuck here at work for a bit. So I want you to go find Keane and learn more about him. Where does he live, what are his hobbies, what type of girls does he like…."

Seomara rubbed her forehead. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you so much!" Seomara squirmed in surprise as Cecilia hugged her. "I'll be waiting here for whatever information you can give me!"

"No problem." Seomara detangled herself then weakly waved goodbye before heading towards the moon gate. She'd already been planning to speak with the two about martial arts training. She could probably get some of Cecilia's questions answered as well. Some of them at least.

Seomara was a little worried that finding the two martial artists would be difficult. After all Tir Chonial might be a small village, but it was spread out over a big area. However as soon as she reached the town square she saw the langly form of the martial artist and his assistant standing side by side next to the stairs to the headman's house. The blonde woman had seen her as well and seemed to be waving her over.

Seomara returned the wave and hurried over to where the two stood. "Hi. Thanks again for earlier."

The man blushed and rubbed the back of his head, while the woman simply smiled. "We were happy to help. I'd like to apologize for running out on you all so quickly. We had some business here that just couldn't wait." She bowed slightly. "I'm Mina, and this is Keane." The man waved slightly. Mina leaned forward and whispered, "He's a little shy."

"I see," Seomara replied sotto voce. She paused, trying to think of how best to state her request. Finally she blurted out, "Uh, could you teach me how to use martial arts?" She bowed deeply to the two. "Please, I beg you."

Keane stepped back, mouth dropping open in surprise, while Mina readjusted her glasses. Keane then leaned over and whispered something in his assistant's ear. Mina nodded. "Well, it's a bit soon for Keane to just take you on as an apprentice. And there's something we need to do first. Maybe you could ask again later?"

Seomara's heart fell. Later for a Tuatha de Danann could be quite a long time. Still there was a chance. Maybe she could ask them about a different teacher. She did her best to force down her disappointment and keep chatting. "I see. I'll remember that then." She paused, trying to think of something else to say. "Oh yeah. Cecilia wanted me to thank you again."

"Really it was nothing." The two both waved off the compliment. Seomara decided not to explain that 'thank' meant date and 'you' only applied to one of them.

Instead she said, "You might also want to talk to the trade imps. Apparently that bandit you beat up was someone who had quite the bounty on him."

Keane shrugged but Mina nodded. "That's a good idea! Do you mind going over to the local trading post with me to confirm the matter?"

"I'd be happy to," Seomara replied.

"Thanks!" Mina patted Keane on the shoulder. "We'll be back in a bit. I know you don't like making money from fighting, but we really could use the funds." The man frowned, but he nodded in acceptance.

Seomara waited for Mina to join her before turning to walk down the road to the village outskirts. As the two were walking together she couldn't help but notice the woman seemed almost unnaturally beautiful. The dire circumstances before had kept her mind away from such matters, but with the tall woman walking beside her it was obvious. On a more subtle level, Mina seemed very attached to her glasses, often reaching up to touch them or readjust them. Of course as soon as she consciously realized it, Seomara caught herself doing the same with her rose ornament and promptly stuck her thumbs in her belt.

As they started to cross the bridge Mina broke the silence. "Actually I wanted to get away for a bit so I could ask you for a favor in return."

"Oh?" Seomara blinked at the sudden request. "Well I owe you two a favor for sure. How can I help?"

Mina laughed. "Ah it's not a big thing. It's just Keane's birthday is soon. He's never been good at getting friends, so I was hoping you and those other two girls could maybe join us to help celebrate it. I want him to enjoy a big party once in his life."

"A party? Sure!" Seomara nodded happily. "And I bet Cecilia will be happy to come too."

"Thank you!" Mina clapped excitedly. "Ah if you all could bring something to eat as well that would be grand. You don't need a present or anything, just something sweet to share."

Seomara nodded. "Sure thing. I'll ask the others as soon as I meet up with them again."

"Great!" Her eyes unfocused as a thought seemed to cross her mind. "You're a Milletian right? That means you can receive messages from the owls, yes?"

Seomara nodded. "Yeah. If you send a note via one of the owls at a town hall they can find me." The messenger owls were one of the many minor services Nao secretly provided.

"Good, good. I'll send a message when the party is about to happen then." The woman waved. "I'll see you again soon."


	7. Chapter 7

Cecilia and Ysolte's reactions to Seomara's news had been about as expected. Cecilia had all but taken flight from joy, while Ysolte had frowned but agreed. However things had not gone quite as expected from there.

Seomara stared at the pan and ladle that were sitting on the fire, the cooking instruction book in her off hand. She tried to focus on the recipe, but her eyes kept flickering back to the Silk Striped Marlin. She'd never managed to catch one of those before, and the price Cadoc had demanded for it was extraordinary.

She turned to face Cecilia. "I can't do this! I barely knew how to boil water less than ten minutes ago. You can't seriously ask me to cook a good Marlin steak."

"But you Milletians can do anything!" Cecilia wrung her hands. "You have to help me here. I really want to impress Keane."

"You know that I personally can't do everything," Seomara replied. "Shouldn't you be cooking it if you want to make an impression? Besides, you're the one working at the best restaurant in the kingdom."

"I'm only working as a waitress. I've never been good with food." Cecilia stared at her with upturned eyes. "Pleeeeease?"

Seomara looked for a path of escape. There had to be someone capable of getting her out of this mess, right? A flash of grey and white caught her attention, a miraculous appearance. "Oi! Blurpleberry!" She waved her hand to catch the warrior's attention. It wasn't the person who she'd been hoping to see, but he might be able to save her anyway.

The shark clad warrior paused, then turned and jogged over. "Oh, hey Seomara. What's up?"

Seomara pointed at the cooking pot. "Cooking. Can you do it?"

"Nope." The man shook his head. "I've done some cooking related stuff. Farm work like harvesting and milking cows is great for building stamina, but I don't know how to cook."

She folded over in defeat. "Damn. Maybe I could try to find Carnelia…?"

"Well I hear it's pretty easy," Blurpleberry said with a shrug. "We Milletians can't seem to create new techniques, but we can pick up old ones from a day of training or a book or something. After that it's just the details."

Seomara froze as Cecilia's hand fell on her shoulder. She knew her doom had been sealed. "I see! Thank you, mister," Cecilia replied.

"No problem." Seomara's lifeforce slowly ebbed as Blurpleberry waved and walked away. Her escape had been foiled, and in the worst way possible. Cecilia's hand on her shoulder was light, but it might as well have been the grip of Death itself.

She sighed. "I'll try. But let's only use half the fish so I don't ruin it all if I screw up."

"Okay!"

As Seomara marinated the dish she found that Blurpleberry was right to some degree. She somehow instinctively knew exactly how long to marinate it, and what heat to put the pan on. In fact as she cooked it she had flashes suggesting when to turn it and move it about. They were weak, and she felt a little fuzzy about the cues sometimes, but perhaps as she practiced more she could get a better feel for matters.

However as the dish took shape she could tell that there was one area she hadn't gained innate skill at: Measuring ingredients. As the dish cooked more and more she could tell there was just a bit too much pepper. If she actually knew what she was doing she might be able to compensate for it.

Eventually she flipped the dish out of the pan and onto a plate. It looked… passable? She sighed and slumped again, then turned to Cecilia. "Want to test it?"

"Sure!" The young woman carefully cut off a slice, then popped it in her mouth. Seomara sighed again as the woman's face fell. "Um, thanks a lot for helping me. I'm… sure he'll like the dish."

"Yeah." Seomara didn't bother calling out the woman's lie. "Need anything else?"

"No. Thanks again," Cecilia waved before grabbing the unused fish and heading over to where the resturant's chefs Gordon and Frasier were cooking.

Seomara shook her head and walked out into the square. Yet another field she was solidly unskilled at.

"Hey. Seomara?"

Seomara looked up to find Ysolte standing there. The woman was still frowning, but she seemed less confrontational then before. "Yeah?"

"Sorry about being so short with you earlier. It's just Cecilia's an old friend of mine. I don't want her getting her heart broken with a stupid crush." The young woman scuffed a foot along the ground.

"It's alright," Seomara forced herself to straighten up a bit. "She does seem a little overenthusiastic about this."

Ysolte sighed. "She's always been like that." Ysolte's frown twisted into a smirk. "Still I can understand wanting to show off a bit. I was thinking of making something really impressive for this birthday party thing." Her eyes shifted to the side. "That'll show that sweaty Keane punk," she muttered to herself.

Seomara raised an eyebrow. "Tsundere, eh?"

"Huh?" Ysolte's eyes snapped back to her. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing," Seomara replied as calmly as she could.

"Right, anyway-" Ysolte pulled out a cutting board then placed a slab of meat and a cooking potion next to it. "I figured I'd make a show off pork steak for that show off. That should impress everyone."

Seomara looked at the ingredients in awe. "A cooking potion? Doesn't that require an expert potion maker? And pork steak? Where did you even get that? I've never seen it for sale."

"The castle cook, Glewyas owed me a favor." Ysolte shrugged and smirked again. Seomara began to wonder exactly how much money Ysolte had. "Unfortunately there's a problem. I don't really have a lot of experience cooking."

Seomara froze. "No."

Ysolte frowned. "What? I just wanted to ask you for help cooking, that's all."

"No, no, no, no, no." Seomara slowly backed away. "I just ruined one set of super expensive ingredients. I'm not ruining another."

"You can't be that bad," Ysolte said with a roll of her eyes. "Here, I've got extra whipping cream and cooking potion. We'll try a normal show off steak as practice."

Seomara hesitated. The cooking potion was hard to get, but not impossible. And normal steaks were pretty common. Maybe she'd learned enough from the first attempt to make a good dish. She sighed. "Alright. I'll give it a shot."

Retrieving her cooking utensils they wandered over to one of the open firepits a the city outskirts. Seomara carefully did her best to mix the cream and potion, then slather it over the beef before tossing the whole thing onto the wok.

This dish went even quicker than the last one. The whipping cream and magical cooking potion quickly congealed around the steak giving it a strange mystical aura... of mediocrity. Apparently there was too much beef and not enough flash.

The two women looked down at the dish. In a perverse way it was almost impressive how dull the dish was.

Finally Ysolte broke the silence. "You stink."

Seomara shook her head. "Sorry." She turned to walk away.

"Eh, whatever, I'll let Frasier do it." Ysolte shrugged. "I can't say you didn't warn me. Though I figured a Milletian would do better."

"I'm not a normal Milletian I guess," Seomara said as she left.

Her feet followed the road on their own, her mind wandering over her failures. She had said those words to Ysolte out of frustration, but it was true. Milletians were supposed to be travelers from another world, but she had no memories of that. Other Milletians talked about going home, or the people they knew or had known from the other world. But she couldn't remember anything.

Perhaps that was why she was so incompetent at so many things. She was inherently a flawed being.

She found that her rambling walk had led her to the Sen Mag plains. The cratered landscape's solemn quiet appealed to her dark mood so she kept walking. A occasional ruined house lined the road, but beyond that there were few signs of life. Unsurprising since this road only led to Bangor, and it took the long way around.

Which is why she was surprised when she saw the little group at the crossroads. Two humans, one of whom seemed to be in her early teens, and a dog. Seomara found her curiosity overcoming her moodiness, so she approached the trio. As she got a little closer she was surprised again to see she knew one of the figures. "Carnelia?!'

The dusky woman looked up at Seomara's greeting. "Oh hello, Seomara. I didn't expect to see you here."

The younger woman looked up at Carnelia with sleepy eyes. "A friend of yours?"

"Yes." Carnelia waved her over. "Seomara, this is Fleta. She's the only person in Erinn who can sew magical clothes." Fleta nodded at the praise. "And this is her dog Rab." The Black Lab barked happily.

Seomara bowed to the two. "I see. Well I hope one day to be able to become a customer of yours."

Fleta seemed to consider the statement. "I hope so too." The girl turned to Carnelia. "Well, since I'm done with the repairs, I should be heading home. See you later." The small girl turned and began to walk back to Emain Macha, Rab following behind.

Seomara looked after the retreating figure then slumped again. Magical clothing sounded nice, but given how things were turning out, she doubted she'd see any of it.

"Hm? Something wrong?"

Seomara jumped as Carnelia broke her out of her thoughts. "Ah! Well... I kinda flubbed some important cooking tasks just now."

"I see." The elder Milletian rubbed her chin. "Well there's a trick to the ingredients, but it takes a little getting used to. I'm not a great chef, but I could give you a few pointers."

"Really?!" Seomara whirled towards the other woman. "I mean I don't want to drag you out of your way or anything but I just have the feeling..."

There was a hooting and both women stopped and looked up just in time to see a white owl drop a package into Seomara's hands. Seomara opened it quickly to find a simple letter.

'Hello! I know we just met recently but I was working on something sweet for Keane's birthday and I was wondering if you could lend a hand. Thanks~,

Mina.'

Seomara looked up from the letter at Carnelia, trying to keep the tears from her eyes. "Help?"

Carnelia smiled kindly. "Don't worry about a thing."

* * *

Seomara sighed in relief as Carnelia slid the cookie off the baking sheet. Her own attempt had been a crumbly mess, but this cookie looked pretty good actually. Mina seemed equally happy. "Thank you, Miss Carnelia. I hate to think what would have happened without your help." Mina sighed. "I'm just so terrible with cooking. I can't understand why."

"It takes practice." Carnelia said. "And a fair amount of dexterity. It's too easy to add too much or too little of something unless your control is perfect."

Seomara found herself looking down at her hands. She had a fair amount of flexibility, but the calluses from martial arts and swordplay made fine control much more difficult. "That might explain why I'm so bad at it."

She saw Mina absently rubbing her hands as well. "Perhaps."

Carnelia closed her eyes in thought. "That's true. I know Master Chefs have a lot of callouses, but they got those from cooking. You'll probably have to learn it the hard way." The mage smiled and handed over the mushroom cookie to Mina. "Anyways, I'm glad I could help, but I've got some research I need to do on my own right now. Still I wanted to give you this Seomara."

She held out a small dull grey stone. Seomara took the strange object, then immediately recognized what it was from the strange power. "A homestead stone fragment?"

"Yes. This will allow you to visit my house." Carnelia folded her arms. "It's in Udlah, so don't expect much."

Seomara smiled. "No it's fine. Thanks a lot." She shuffled through her pack to grab one of her own fragments. "Here. Mine's kinda a mess. Oh and I'm in Physis."

Carnelia accepted the stone. "Thank you." She gave a nod to Mina. "Well I'll be off then." With a wave she summoned a mount then headed off towards the pass to Dunbarton.

As Carnelia disappeared over the hill Mina turned to Seomara. "So the party will be tomorrow at ten. Do you think you can still make it?"

Seomara nodded. "With time to spare."


	8. Chapter 8

Seomara eagerly stretched her arms as the sun started rising next to the sheep pasture. Today she was going to learn real martial arts techniques!

The party had been a low key affair, except for the mountains of food. She'd bought a cheesecake, but honestly no one would have noticed if she'd shown up without anything. In addition to the (correctly prepared) dishes each of the other girls had brought they'd all grabbed another dish. Seomara had somehow ended up having to finish off half a chocolate cake and a full skewer of Taiteann carp in addition to nibbling on the snacks left about.

She'd also played mediator to Mina, Cecilia, and Ysolte as they bickered amongst themselves. It was pretty obvious that Cecilia wasn't the only one with a crush. Still that was all unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

Somehow Cecilia managed to convince Keane to teach them how to fight. Well she'd convinced him to teach her how to fight. And neither Seomara nor Ysolte was going to pass up that opportunity!

"You're here early."

Seomara looked up to find Ysolte frowning down at her. "Yeah. I don't really have anything else to do though. And I've been wanting to learn how to fight with knuckles for as long as I can remember."

Ysolte sniffed then shrugged. "I suppose I can't claim to be any better. I'm just doing this to keep an eye on Cecilia."

"Of course." Seomara did her best to keep her skepticism out of her voice. She had a feeling the blue haired woman would take confrontation poorly. And she wanted to learn how to fight, not start one.

Ysotle sighed. "It must be nice being a Milletian. You don't need to eat or sleep. You get to focus on whatever you want."

"I suppose it is pretty nice yeah. There are some downsides too though," Seomara said. 'Like having everyone expect you to be a master of everything,' she thought.

The blue haired woman's expression seemed to soften. "I suppose so. I don't know what it would be like aging so fast most people couldn't recognize me."

"Well everyone's here." Seomara and Ysolte looked up as Mina, Keane and Cecelia approached the duo. Mina adjusted her glasses and headed to the top of the low hill. "I'll be giving you three the direct instructions, while Keane acts as your training partner all right?" Keane smiled and nodded to confirm the setup.

"Okay," the three pupils responded.

Mina held up a finger and began lecturing. "Now all the moves we're going to teach you are meant to be chained one after the other. You probably can't get an enemy to drop their guard enough to use the later skills without hitting them with a strong opener." Keane whispered something in her ear and she nodded. "Ah right. Martial arts is more about overpowering your enemy's will to fight then brute force. If you can make your enemies panic with your opener, your follow up and finisher should be effective on them, even if they weren't the one you hit the first time."

Seomara frowned as she considered that. It seemed a bit of a limitation, but maybe she was underestimating the power of the skills.

"First Cecilia. You seem to favor fast attacks. These moves will help you add power to your speed. Thus the first technique. This attack can be released at any time, but it becomes quite strong when fully powered up. First focus your willpower into your fist." Keane slowly pulled his right fist back. As the man did a strange glow formed around it. "Then release it!" The man seemed to launch forward with a resounding smash. Seomara shifted eagerly with excitement. This was what she had wanted to learn!

Mina looked down at the trio. "Alright. Why don't you all try the move now?"

Seomara closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to focus her will into her fist. At first it seemed like there was nothing happening, but then she had a sudden flash of insight. Instead of thinking about making her fist stronger, she tried to imagine the glow that had surrounded Keane's hand. As she did her fingers began to tingle with energy. Carefully and slowly she drew her fist back. Then when she reached the limit of her wind up, she stepped forward and struck.

There was a satisfying stomp and she opened her eyes to reveal she had indeed shot forward. Unfortunately, she was both a foot short and two to the right of the tree she'd been aiming for. She couldn't help but sigh internally.

"That was amazing, Seomara." She blinked and looked over to see Keane smiling and Mina lightly applauding. "Not many people can perform the move on their first try. Now you just need to work on your accuracy and distance. Why don't you work on that while we help Cecilia and Ysolte?"

"Ah sure." She mentally kicked herself. It had been a good first try! She just needed to make it even better. She lined herself up with the tree and tried focusing her power again. And this time she'd keep her eyes open. That would help with her aim if nothing else.

It took about a half hour for the other two girls to manage the move, and about a full hour to be able to do it consistently. When Ysolte managed to perform the attack three times in a row with ease Mina clapped her hands for attention.

"You all did well." Mina adjusted her glasses again. "Now that you've gotten this attack down you can start learning the follow up. This attack also involves summoning your will, but instead of using pure energy, try imagining it as flame." Keane did a short chi punch then crouched down before leaping into the air with a burning uppercut. "This attack will break your enemy's defenses, both mundane and magical."

Seomara nodded and picked a dead tree to practice on. She carefully focused her energy, stepped forward and slammed her fist into the tree, then she crouched down. She tried to think of fire, of warmth, and she was rewarded by a roar as her fist ignited. "Haaaaa!" She pushed off with her left foot and let her full body spin forward as her uppercut shattered the tree's bark.

"Hiyaa-ooow!" Seomara winced as she heard Cecilia's fist smack into the her training dummy with more of a slap then a crash. She turned to see the woman shaking her hand. Ysolte on the other hand was resetting her initial attack. It seemed the blue haired fighter hadn't managed to focus her second attack right after her first one. Mina hadn't noticed Seomara's success, but Keane gave her a shy smile, a nod, and a shushing motion.

She nodded. It was probably a good idea to be a little quieter about her success. She turned back to the tree to continue practicing. Still she was starting to feel better then she had in a long time. This was actually working!

After another hour all of the trainees had managed to perform the move successfully. Mina clapped again to signal they should break and motioned Seomara and the others to the foot of the hill. "Now the finishing move. If you've gotten to this stage your opponents will be off guard enough that you can break through any defense or counter they try to use. And since the last hit just lowered their protection, the best follow up would be a series of rapid blows. Let's see..." Mina paused and looked over the three students. "Um, Seomara would you be willing to help Keane demonstrate?"

"Sure, I suppose." Seomara walked forward a bit. "What do I need to do?"

Mina stepped down next to Ysolte and Cecilia. "For now, just stand there as Keane demonstrates. Don't worry, he won't hurt you."

Seomara nodded and turned to face the softly smiling man. He bowed his head a bit, then assumed a fighting stance before moving towards her. She instinctively wanted to block, but she forced herself to stand still despite the incoming attack.

It probably wouldn't have mattered. One moment she was facing the martial artists, the next she was flying through the air. She coughed in surprise as she landed on her back on the ground. At least it was thick pasture grass here. Sensing something dangerous was coming she tried to stand, but as she moved to push herself off the ground Keane appeared flying through the air. "Oof," she exhaled as her breath was driven out of her by the man's landing on top of her. She found herself pinned as Keane straddled her waist. Before she could even begin to recover the man slammed ten punches on either side of her head.

The tall man then blushed and pushed himself off of her before extending a hand to help her up. Seomara shook her head to clear it and allowed the man to pull her to her feet before looking over to see what Mina had to say. Instead she found all three other women glaring at her with burning green eyes. She stepped back before their wrath and looked for an out. "So, uh how do we practice this technique?"

Mina's rage slowly dissipated. "Ah, right. Well we should pair off. The pummeling part is rather straight forward, so the main trick is the kick, leaping on your opponent to pin them, and the dismount."

"I pick Keane!" Cecilia said immediately. Seomara was startled and impressed at how fast the woman was.

Mina was almost as quick however. "Oh no, Keane is watching to correct our technique. I'll be your partner." The woman's happy grin as she said that almost looked like a real smile.

Seomara walked away from that disaster in the making and approached Ysolte. "I guess we'll be partners then."

Ysolte snapped around to face Seomara, then slowly relaxed into her usual frown, "Yeah I suppose so. Do you want to get your perfect performance out of the way first, or should I go?"

Seomara winced. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourselves. You learned in an hour. Given a year to me is a week to you that's pretty fast."

"Hmph," Ysolte's frown didn't change but the woman seemed mollified. "Well you're still going to get it right the first time, so why don't you go first? Maybe I can learn some more hints from watching you."

"Right." Seomara carefully tried to figure out the best way to launch Ysolte so she'd be helpless, yet without hurting her. She eventually settled for the stomach and a rolling back kick that would add a lot of push. "Ready?"

Ysolte tensed her muscles to absorb any errant impact. "Ready."

Seomara rolled forward with the kick, then used her momentum to pull a forward somersault. She couldn't see where she was headed, but somehow her move felt right. Sure enough as she straightened out she found Ysolte lying right at her landing point. She did her best to use the ground instead of Ysolte to absorb her landing, then she unloaded a few quick punches into the ground, just to get the feel of the attack. She wasn't nearly as fast as Keane, but that could be fixed easily. Then she used her legs to push off again into a lazy backwards flip.

As she landed she saw Ysolte slowly rising to her feet. "Ugh. Didn't hurt much but it's still something of a shock."

"Maybe we'll learn how to absorb the fall better as we train," Seomara said. "Anyway it's your turn."

"Right." Ysolte's frown became more serious, then the woman moved forward with a kick.

Seomara cried out as the blow hit her in the stomach and drove her backwards, but it didn't send her flying. She rubbed at the spot that Ysolte had hit while the blue haired woman cursed. "I think you need more push. Also more 'up.'"

Ysolte grimaced. "Yeah." Seomara noticed as the other fighter's eyes shifted to where Keane was watching. "Can I try again?"

"Sure." Seomara let a smile flicker to life. "And you might also do better if you paid more attention to me than Keane."

She regretted the words immediately. Ysolte's eyes smoldered as she focused on Seomara, and the woman's vicious smirk had returned. "Sure thing." Seomara forced herself to remain still as Ysolte rolled forward in a mirror of her own attack, then kicked.

There was a brief flash of pain, then the sensation of falling, then a rough impact as she hit the ground. It seemed the launch had worked, she thought with a wince. She considered trying to get up, but the sight of Ysolte spinning through the air stopped her. No reason to make the woman's landing more difficult. As the blue haired fighter finished her final rotation however Seomara could tell the woman had rolled too far forward. Ysolte's eyes widened as she began to head face first toward Seomara.

Stars exploded in her eyes as the two women smashed foreheads. Seomara flopped backwards on the ground, while a soft but heavy weight fell on top of her.

She felt dizzy, like she'd been drinking. But she hadn't been drinking had she? She didn't even remember if she'd ever drunk something before. Perhaps she was just basing it off one of her stories. Something like those cheap romances where they got drunk and the girl pushed the guy away going, "Kya~ No we mustn't. Not on the first date~."

"What?"

The voice was slurred a little, but still shocked. The realization she'd said those lines aloud helped bring her vision back. There, looking shocked and angry was Ysolte. The woman had managed to get her hands underneath her so she wasn't pressed up against Seomara, but they were still nearly nose to nose. Seomara found her face heating up as she blushed. "Um. Sorry. You knocked me silly for a bit. My brain just kind of wandered."

Ysolte pushed herself up so she was sitting on Seomara's stomach. The young fighter slowly clenched a fist. "Oh really? And what kind of fantasy were you thinking about, huh?" Seomara followed Ysolte's flickering gaze over to where Keane was watching the two with a concerned look.

She swiftly moved to save her skin. "No no no no! It's not like that at all. I don't have any interest in Keane, I mean I prefer girls anyway and-" Seomara stopped abrubtly, realizing she'd just made an even bigger mistake. Her face felt even hotter. She was sure her skin had probably turned the same shade her hair.

Ysolte was blushing too, though the woman's fist was trembling with embarrassed anger. "Is that so?"

Seomara desperately thought about a way to fix her missteps, but her mind rejected all the answers she came up with. There was no good answer. So instead she sidestepped. "Um. Anyway we're training right now, so we should probably get back to it."

There was a long awkward paused, then Ysolte stood up. "Alright. Let's try that again."

Seomara slowly stood and braced herself for the inevitable kick. "Whenever you're ready."


	9. Chapter 9

Surprisingly the final part of the training took the least time. Both Ysolte and Cecilia managed to master the technique rather quickly. Keane was soon clapping to show the exercise was over. He then walked over to Mina and whispered something to her. She nodded in understanding then turned to relay the message to the rest of the students. "You've all done very well today. We're going to take a break for lunch right now so everyone can eat and rest up from this morning's training.

Seomara sighed in relief and sat down on the grass before pulling out the sandwich she'd bought out of a cart. The training hadn't been pushing them too hard, but she could still feel the start of a bruise from where Ysolte had been kicking her all day.

The others brought out their lunches as well. Ysolte and Cecilia had lunchboxes, probably prepared at Loch Lios. Keane on the other hand had a simple egg salad, while Mina had a fruit salad. Seomara idly wondered if that was their normal fare, or if they were trying to eat light after the massive feast at the party.

"Hey, Seomara. Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Cecilia asked hesitantly.

"Go ahead," Seomara said.

Cecilia hesitated a moment more before continuing. "Why do you take the time to eat? Milletians can't die of hunger. Is it because you like the taste?"

Seomara took a bite of her sandwich before replying. "Well we can't die of hunger. But we get hungry. It's no fun either. Miss a day's worth of food and you can barely walk, much less fight."

"Oh." The brown haired girl considered the matter. "I guess that would be pretty uncomfortable wouldn't it."

"A handy ability, but not that handy," Mina stated contemplatively.

Ysolte took a bite out of her bento. "I think that natural ability to pick up moves is far more handy. If I didn't know better I'd say you were just relearning stuff you've forgotten."

Seomara frowned. "Maybe I was. There's a lot I can't remember." She shook her head. "Then again Nao mentioned something about a talent. It's possible the soul stream is helping me too."

All the Tuatha de Danann raised an eyebrow at that. "Maybe that's where the rumors of Milletians being able to do anything comes from," Ysolte mused.

"Maybe." Seomara returned her focus to her sandwich. Focusing on the oddities of her life didn't appeal to her right now.

As the rest of the girls chatted, Seomara tried to focus mentally on the techniques she'd just learned. How could she best use them in combat? Where would she have used them in the past? She had the feeling this training was what she'd been searching for and she wasn't going to let it go to waste. So when Keane finally stood and signaled they should continue she leaped to her feet.

The small class quickly returned to their positions for the next set of training. This time Mina turned to Ysolte after fiddling with her glasses. "While Cecilia prefers speed, you seem to prefer power Ysolte. So we're going to teach you some moves to help keep your enemies off guard while you finish them off."

Keane dropped into a fighting stance as Mina continued. "The first technique is a simple charging strike. Many warriors charge into battle with a shield rush to defend against arrows and magic. But since we aren't constrained by armor or heavy weapons, we can just leap into the fray." Keane sprang into motion, dashing nearly twenty feet before smashing a powerful hook into a stump.

Mina continued her explanation. "Now this requires more physical focus than mental power. Which means you'll probably get the technique right, but be a little slow to start. You want to be able to strike someone five paces away as quickly as you could hit someone standing right next to you."

Seomara nodded then tried to think of how to get that kind of movement. Eventually she decided it had to rely on her hips. She'd need to crouch down and let her legs completely drive her body. As a bonus it would probably strengthen her punch.

To think was to do. She lowered her body then rushed forward. Three steps, then a hook. Her fist landed so fast she didn't even see the intervening space. But she didn't feel like she'd felt the other times. Something was still off.

"Close but not quite Seomara. You need to move in more of a straight line. A mage would have been able to ice bolt you there," Mina said.

Seomara shrugged. "It seems this move takes more practice than raw talent."

Cecilia smiled pleasantly. "Well, it still seemed impressive to me. I'll have to try that footwork."

Ysolte just smirked. "Maybe with a bit of work we might be able to beat you here."

"You can try," Seomara responded in kind.

In the end Cecilia actually managed to master the technique first, with Seomara and Ysolte tying for second. Still now that she had success under her belt, Seomara was starting to enjoy the stiff competition. She was eager to see what the next technique was.

Mina pushed her glasses up and began to lecture. "Most human mages are frail, but alchemists and Fomor mages can be quite strong. It's possible a single blow won't take them out. However repeated blows to the head will confuse even the best fighters, as you've already learned." Seomara flushed and she could hear Ysolte muttering darkly. Mina grinned and continued. "This technique involves kicking your foe three times in the head. It's all about accuracy and speed again, so put your will into knocking your target silly."

Ysolte scuffed a foot on the ground. "Uh, does it have to be kicks?" Seomara wondered about the question before noticing the blue haired woman smoothing her mini skirt. Kicks in that outfit would leave her a little exposed. Keane apparently picked up on the issue as well, from the way he was blushing.

"You have to choose between modesty and combat effectiveness sometimes." Mina said with a shrug. "Just try to kick them so hard they forget what they saw."

Ysolte grimaced and fiddled with the hem of her skirt for a bit before sighing. "Fine. It's not like I actually worried about kicks when I was in a real fight before."

"Okay." Seomara readied herself and targeted the dead tree that had suffered her abuse so far. This seemed simple. Chain two quick spinning kicks and follow it up with a somersault to the chin.

Once again Seomara found herself knowing vaguely what she needed to do, but having to train to pull it off. Her first few strikes at her target were strong enough, but her accuracy was slightly off. This time it was Ysolte who managed to pull off the technique first, while Seomara managed to finish second. When Keane finally called the training she found herself tapping her foot impatiently for the final skill. She needed to reclaim her pride, and escape Ysolte's smirk.

"Alright!" Mina gave them all a smile. "Now the final technique. As you may have noticed, all the other attacks we taught you are really only effective against one person. This last finisher however is a little different. It's strong against a single target, but it can also help defeat lots of weaker opponents." Keane placed two training dummies up in the field then leaped into the air before drop kicking one into the other. "As you can see, with a strong dropkick you can knock down lots of foes at once."

Seomara frowned. "But doesn't that require all your foes be behind the person you're kicking? And we'll have had to set up the attack in a real fight."

Keane nodded seriously before whispering something to Mina. "You're right. This isn't like a windmill attack. Still it's the best option available to a martial arts fighter, and it's a strong attack in its own right."

"Hmm." Seomara considered the matter. She wasn't convinced about it as a crowd clearer, but it was a quicker finisher than the pummeling technique, and safer too.

"Anyway," Mina continued, "the hard part of this technique is the recovery. You can't spend too much time on the ground or you'll be a sitting duck. So let's practice."

Seomara nodded. This she felt certain she knew how to handle. She walked over to the tree, then leaped into the air before kicking out as hard as she could with both feet. She then let her body roll as she dropped turning the fall into a spin not unlike the end of a windmill kick. From there the hours of practice allowed her to right herself easily.

Keane clapped, while Ysolte's frown returned. "You win this time," she said. Seomara simply smirked and bowed in reply.

Mina made a calming gesture. "Now now. Seomara showed the best technique to use if you know how to do a windmill kick. So why don't you two try it?"

Both girls rapidly mastered the attack after a few embarrassing faceplants. Keane beamed at his pupil's success as the afternoon came to a close. "You all did really well," Mina said. "Keane wants to congratulate you. You've learned the basics faster than anyone he's taught." The man whispered in her ear and she blushed. "Well anyone besides me. Um, anyway you can train a bit more on your own, but that's it for today. We'll work on mixing the moves together in more specific ways tomorrow."

"Thanks," Seomara and Cecilia responded automatically. Ysolte chimed in as well a moment later. The two instructors bowed and waved before heading back to Tir Chonial proper.

As Mina and Keane turned to leave the field, Seomara turned to her fellow students. "So, want to keep practicing?"

"Of course I do!" Cecilia pumped her fist. "I'm gonna keep practicing into the night! I want to get really strong to impress Keane tomorrow!"

"Hmph," Ysolte sniffed then smirked. "I just want to show that guy he's not all that. But yeah, we should practice until we drop."

Seomara shook her head and sighed. "That's a terrible idea you know. Even Milletians can't practice like that. You need a break every now and then." She looked at the sun, seeing the light was fading. "Why don't we take a long break to rest and eat, then train until the moon is highest?"

Ysolte frowned again, but nodded. "Alright, you've got a good point."

"Fiiiiine," Cecilia said as she pouted.

"Trust me it's better this way." Seomara headed towards the town's grocery store. "Besides. I'm hungry."


	10. Chapter 10

Seomara flopped back into the grass. It was only 10 PM by the moon's position, but she was already feeling the strain of training. She was glad she'd managed to talk the two other girls into stopping for dinner. Given they'd both stopped to rest before her, she figured they were glad as well, even if neither would admit it.

Cecilia rubbed her shoulders. "This is really hard. We're doing the moves right, but we're nowhere near as effective as Mina was, much less Keane."

"They have been training longer," Ysolte pointed out quietly. "I suppose if it was easy enough to master in a day it wouldn't be worth learning."

"I get the feeling there's a lot of parts to it too," Seomara added. "Your confidence in the skill, your confidence in your martial arts, and your confidence in yourself."

"Why do you say that?" Cecilia asked.

Seomara thought for a moment. "I... honestly don't know."

Ysolte opened her mouth to reply, when the sheepdogs started to bark loudly. Seomara sprang to her feet, expecting to see a wolf pack approaching the herds. Instead she saw a gang of bandits starting to run towards the small group.

Cecilia yelped in surprise. "What the hell are they doing here?" Ysolte asked. Seomara shook her head in reply. Normally bandits only attacked traders or the traveling minstrels. Bandits this close to a town were totally unprecedented. The three women took up fighting stances and prepared to meet their attackers.

As the bandits started crossing the last hill the three rushed forward to meet their enemies. It was time to put training into practice.

Just like the last fight, she slowly changed her attack angle to move past the front line. She was a little worried Ysolte or Cecilia would have the same plan, but it seemed the other two were perfectly willing to throw themselves into the main fray. The two drew attention with their powerful attacks, while Seomara closed in on the four archers and mages in the back.

She was already past the front line and closing when the first archer spotted her. He cried out to his fellows and started aiming at her. This time however she had a way to cross the distance. She crouched down, putting all her strength into her legs, then dashed forward. The man barely drew his arrow before her fist smashed his jaw, laying him flat on the ground.

The second archer fumbled with his arrow, trying to recover his composure. He didn't have the time. Seomara stepped forward then caught him with an uppercut. She felt the man's armor break, but that didn't matter, because she felt his bones break as well. She focused on her landing letting her foe fall to the ground.

Her head snapped up at the crack of crystallizing mana. There were two imps here, and both had charged bolts. She ran forward, hoping she was in time. As her target loosed an Icebolt in panic, she leaped and kicked out.

Cold smashed into her leg, causing her to fall on her back hard, but she heard the crash of imp bodies as well. Forcing herself to move, she rolled to her feet, just in time to see the imp recover as well. For a moment she considered using one of the techniques she learned, but her legs were still tired from her rush and focusing her chi would take longer than the imps spell. Instead she simply ran forward and kneed the creature in the head as it started casting.

That was enough to stun it, so she finished the fight with a couple of strong jabs. The imp went down and stayed down.

Turning she saw Ysolte and Cecilia were holding their own. They'd both resorted to their old dirty tricks as well, but the fight had gone from ten against two to three on three. Seomara ran forward and kicked the more cautious bandit in the back while Ysolte broke her foes arm and Cecilia landed a focused strike on the third when he winced at his companion's fate. The final bandit attempted to stand up from Seomara's kick, and was unceremoniously stomped on by all three girls until consciousness left him.

The three woman looked over each other, then scanned the area for reinforcements. Seeing the area was clear Cecilia leaped into the air happily. "We win!"

"All too easy," Ysolte laughed.

Seomara cracked her knuckles and smiled. "That's how a fight is supposed to go!"

"You prefer routs? Where's your sense of challenge?" Ysolte asked with a smirk.

Seomara's expression hardened. "Challenges are for friends. Against enemies, I want to win."

"There you three are!" Seomara turned to see Mina running towards them. "Big trouble! Keane's been kidnapped!"

* * *

Carnelia stuck to the shadows as she moved through the dungeon. Her disguise usually worked, but some guards were brighter than others. The dark armor she was wearing was stealthier then most due to the magic creating it, so she used it to her advantage.

A patrol of goblins moved noisily though the room heading up towards the higher levels. Apparently some other adventurers had entered as well. Hopefully they wouldn't cause too much confusion before Carnelia got what she was looking for. She moved further down the dark corridors, pausing at each twist and turn to try to hear what was down each passage.

As she entered the next room she cursed silently. A locked door barred her way, and the room was full of chests. It was a mimic pit. A common trap, and not even a hard one given the real chest was always in a corner. But that still left her with a one in four chance of getting through without starting a loud fight. She stared at each chest, trying to guess which one was real.

Finally she slowly and carefully reached out a flipped the top of one. To her immense relief the box opened, revealing a key. She grabbed the small key, then slowly unlocked the door and slipped through.

The next chamber was another big room with a locked door, but this lock was massive. Obviously the leader of this dungeon was behind it. Carnelia looked around for any other creatures, then moved over to listen at the door.

Two creatures were speaking the language of the Fomors. Carnelia didn't know much of the language, but she could make out a few words here and there. She strained to try to get as much information as possible. "Dungeon... passageway... soon leave... humans die... Glas Ghaibhleann."

She frowned at the words. It seemed things were progressing quickly, and not in the direction she'd expected. She considered what she should do now. Time was running out.

"Hoi!"

Carnelia whirled around to see a goblin pointing at her. Apparently her disguise hadn't worked perfectly. She considered trying to bluff the creature, but her language wasn't up to the task. Instead she whirled out her control bars and wrapped the wires around the goblins neck. The goblin gasped and tore at the wires holding its throat closed, but it was no use. Carnelia twisted the control bars, and the creature's neck snapped.

She let the body quietly settle to the ground then headed through the shadows towards the exit. There was little more she could do here. She needed allies. Quickly.

* * *

"Kidnapped!" Cecilia wrung her hands. "By who? The bandits?" Her face turned red. "What were you doing Mina! It was your job to help protect him right?!"

"Calm down Cecilia," Ysolte said, interposing herself between the two. "We have to think this through. Do you know who's responsible?"

"They left a note. 'Bring us one million ducats in a week or he gets it,'" Mina said as she held up the offending paper. "Signed Herbert."

"That Herbert again?" Cecilia was hopping in agitation. "This time we'll put him down for good!"

Mina shook her head. "I want to rush out to help too, but if we aren't careful Keane could get hurt. Bandit encampments are well hidden and well-guarded. We need to learn where they're headed."

Seomara shifted back and forth anxiously. "Do you know how to do that?"

"Yes." Mina gripped her glasses and hesitated a moment before continuing. "You see, I used to be a bandit before, along with 'scandalous' Charlene. When Keane defeated me in battle, I swore off banditry and became his student."

Suddenly a lot of minor things added up. "You're a siren, aren't you?" Seomara stated.

Mina flinched but nodded. "Yes."

"But sirens wear masks," Cecilia said hesitantly.

"The glasses," Seomara said. Mina confirmed by nodding.

Ysolte stomped her foot. "Does that really matter? The important thing is you know where we can find the bandits. How should we go about ambushing them for answers?"

A smile flitted over Mina's face before she returned her focus to the plan. "There are two areas the bandits might be grouping at right now. Spiral Hill and the forests of Dugald Aisle. We'll split up. I'll search the forests, while Ysolte and Seomara search Spiral Hill. Cecilia will stay here, just in case Keane escapes on his own."

"What? I want to go look too!" Cecilia yelled.

"We have to be rational about this Cecilia. There is a good chance Keane will escape," Ysolte said. "Mina can go on her own because she's the strongest of us, but the other team needs two people, and Seomara's the obvious first pick since she can report back even if she loses." Ysolte grimaced. "No offense."

"None taken," Seomara said. In this case it was a blessing really. The person she went with would not be so lucky.

Cecilia looked down at the ground. "But... but... Why don't I go with Seomara?"

Seomara considered the request for a moment before shaking her head. "Sorry Cecilia, but I've trained more with Ysolte. Besides you're the best one to help Keane if he does escape." Seomara regretted the lie a little, but she didn't want the other woman feeling too left out.

"Fine." Cecilia sighed.

"We'll meet back here in four hours," Mina said. "Then we'll go as a group to deal with the main camp, alright?"

"Right," Seomara said. Ysolte and Cecilia nodded in agreement.

"Then let's go." Mina began jogging off towards the forest.

Seomara turned to wave at Cecilia, then summoned her mount. Hopping on she extended a hand to Ysolte. "It's a bit of a squeeze, but it'll probably be faster than walking. Is that alright?"

Ysolte frowned deeply, but reached out to grab Seomara's hand. "I'd use my own horse if I could magically summon him, but since I can't this'll have to do." Ysolte hopped up behind Seomara before getting a firm hold of her waist. Seomara waited until the blue haired woman had finished adjusting her seat before setting the horse to a slow trot.

"Take care you two," Cecilia said as they rode off.

Seomara slowly increased her horses speed to a canter, but since she wasn't skilled at riding double she didn't push her horse. Even at this slow speed Ysolte had to hug her pretty close to avoid being jostled about. Still that was probably for the best. She could keep an eye out for bandit stragglers or ambushers this way.

She tensed as Ysolte squeezed her closer and muttered in her ear, "Just so you know if you make any jokes about 'a beautiful woman's embrace while I'm stuck here, I'll push you off the horse."

Heat flooded into her cheeks. Ysolte's words forced her to notice the woman's body held close against her. She tried to focus on something else, but the soft pressure against her back made that all but impossible now. "I hadn't thought anything like that until you said it," she protested weakly. Ysolte growled dangerously, but didn't act on her threat.

Fortunately for Seomara's sanity Spiral hill wasn't too far down the road by horse. She stopped at the base of the hill, silently relaxing as Ysolte slid off. When she was certain the other woman was safe on the ground she hopped off herself and dismissed the mount. Doing her best to dismiss her blush she turned to face Ysolte. "We should stick behind the rocks to avoid the wisps."

Ysolte turned her face away, but her voice was clear. "Right. Lead the way."

Seomara took a few deep breaths to clear her mind, then focused on the path before her. It was night so the wisps glowed brightly, but there were wolves on this hill as well. They needed to avoid both if possible. Fortunately it seemed there was a broad enough path that the two could move safely at least halfway up the mountain.

The two moved in small bursts. Stealth was a secondary concern to speed. Seomara wasn't certain it would work, but it felt like the proper thing to do. Whether she was correct or just lucky, they didn't encounter any enemies along the way to the boulders that marked the steep curve of Spiral Hill.

"It should be safe to stop here for a bit," Seomara said sotto voice. "This area is usually clear."

"Good," Ysolte nodded. She hesitated for a moment. "Thanks for going with me, Seomara. I was a little worried about going here alone." The blue haired woman put her hands behind her back and idly kicked at some dirt. "I feel a lot safer with you here."

Seomara felt her face heating up again. "Ah, it's nothing. Well I mean I'm happy to hear you say that, but I don't really feel like I could do this alone you know."

"Hehehe." Ysolte giggled softly. Seomara blinked at the surprisingly cute response. "For someone who can be really arrogant while training, you're really easy to praise."

Seomara looked away. "I... Thanks?"

Ysolte giggled again, then sighed. "Well we should probably press on."

"Right." Seomara put her mind back on task. "We'll probably have a fight as soon as we make it to the top. Try to keep the loudest one alive for questioning."

Ysolte's serious frown returned. "Makes sense. What's the attack plan?"

"Hit them hard. I'll kill casters you kill archers, then we try to finish the rest." Seomara looked over to see if Ysolte had any changes to make. The young fighter just nodded. "Alright then. Let's see about getting the rest of the way up the path."

Seomara carefully peaked out over the boulder to figure out the best route. She frowned when she saw an ancient wolf patrolling one area, but she figured if the two were quick she could make it past the creature. They'd have to zig zag immediately afterward, but it should be doable. Crouching low, she signaled Ysolte their path, then began dashing for the first bush.

They almost didn't make it. One of the dire wolf pups saw their quick movements and began to growl, but they'd moved on before it could decide what to do with the strange sight. That sudden movement caught the attention of a wisp. The sharp crack of charging lightning nearly made Seomara's hair stand on end, but the time the bobbing light took to create the spell was enough time to run behind a big solid rock.

The rest of the sputtering dash up the hill was relatively safe. In less than twenty minutes they reached the boulders that marked the final climb to the summit. Seomara took a moment to catch her breath, then carefully peered out.

She clenched her fist in triumph as she saw the small bandit group there. Nine of the masked thugs were lazing about the large tree that sat at the very top of Spiral Hill. Of the group there seemed to be only one imp and a single goblin with a bow. Even better, at least three of the swordsmen looked to be napping, meaning the element of surprise was on their side.

She looked back to Ysolte and the other woman nodded in agreement. They should attack quickly. Seomara held up a hand and slowly counted down from three with her fingers. When her fist clenched she stood up and started running forward while Ysolte dashed around the other side of the boulder.

The bandits didn't even notice her until she'd made it up to their outer guard ring. She ignored their cries of warning and carefully moved into their ranks before lashing out with a spinning sweep. Two of the guards were flung away and one of the sleeping men took a shot to the head. Seomara quickly recovered and leaped into the air before smashing down on one of her victims with a hammer blow. As the third man stabbed at her back, she sidestepped and grabbed his wrist, then broke his arm with a vicious counter.

Opposite her Ysolte just ran over the two other sleeping bandits, leaving one nursing his sword hand and the other nursing his groin. The woman then moved forward and grabbed the lone imp before tossing him up and punting him like a football.

Seeing Ysolte had just held up her side of the plan Seomara tried to pick out the archer. It was hard in the chaos, but the obvious pose of an archer lining up a shot helped her find her victim. She crouched again and rushed the goblin. The creature cried out and dropped its bow. Seomara dropped it with an uppercut, then looked for someone else to hurt.

Ysolte was grimacing as she faced off against two bandits, defending herself while looking for an opening. Seomara was starting to worry the other woman might have been hurt when Ysolte said, "Ugh. You smell. Why don't you just leave?"

The bigger goblin spat something in Fomor before waving its axe threateningly. "Who the hell do you think you are? We'll see how good you smell when I let out your guts." He waved at his henchman and they started to flank Ysolte.

Seomara decided this was the proper time to intervene. She ran in towards the henchman, figuring the lower ranked goblin wouldn't be as perceptive. She was right. A quick punch to the kidney then kick to the back of the head sent the creature down for the count. She waved to Ysolte as she moved to stand next to the woman. "Sorry about the kill steal." As the goblin leader snarled in Fomor again a terrible smell reached her nose. "Ugh, you were right about the smell."

"That's it!" the goblin leader roared. The bandit lowered his shield then began his own rush forward. Surprised, Seomara stepped back, but Ysolte began her own charging attack. The woman's spiked knuckles slammed against the goblins shield, breaking off his strike but sending her stumbling back. It was obvious who would recover first.

Fortunately that didn't matter. Seomara adjusted her stance, then focused her chi into her fist. As the bandit leader recovered she stepped forward, throwing all her might into her attack. "Hya!"

The charged blow shattered the goblin's shield. Seomara stepped forward as the creature backpedaled and began a series of heavy kicks. The Fomor was no spell caster, but repeated blows to the head slowed it down. As she finished off her own attack, Ysolte stepped forward and landed a heavy dropkick, sending the bandit leader slamming into the big tree.

"Nice combo," Seomara said with a grin.

"Of course," Ysolte returned with her own smirk.

The two women looked to where the goblin boss was groaning. "Oh good. I was a little worried that might have killed him." Seomara walked over to the goblin, trying to ignore the smell. "So where did your Ogre buddy take Keane?"

"I ain't saying nothing," the bandit snarled.

Ysolte walked up, cracking her knuckles. "Every second I spend smelling you makes me more angry. I'm not sure what I'll end up doing to you if you don't talk."

The bandit looked around a bit sizing up the situation. Seomara could see him begin to sweat, but he wasn't close to breaking just yet. "I say we break his arms and legs and take him to the trading post for a reward. I'll have to burn the saddle after, but I'm sure we'll still make money off it."

The goblin flinched. Apparently he was on the wanted list somewhere. "If you mess with me like that us bandits will hunt you down for the rest of your life. And it'll be short!"

Seomara gave her best fake smile. "Milletian. Don't care."

"Fine!" The goblin looked down at the ground, ashamed of himself. "Herbert took him to the quarry with forty of his best men. That's all I know!"

"Alright! Let's go!" Ysolte said.

Seomara nodded and summoned her horse. "One last thing." She walked up to the goblin and kicked him in the head. "He should be out for the rest of the night."

"Good idea." Ysolte waited for Seomara to hop on the horse before mounting herself. "Though I'm kinda curious. Why would he think I'm a Milletian too?"

"Blue hair isn't that common you know," Seomara pointed out.

"Fair enough," Ysolte said. "Well it worked. Now all we need to do is get back and tell the others... Then figure out how to beat forty bandits."

Seomara winced before starting her horse cantering down the hill. "Maybe Mina will have a plan. Or maybe Keane escaped."

"I hope so," Ysolte replied solemnly.


	11. Chapter 11

When they returned Mina was there fiddling with her glasses, while Cecilia paced back and forth. Both the women immediately rushed over as Seomara and Ysolte dismounted. "Did you find anything?!" Cecilia asked.

Ysolte crossed her arms. "Yeah, but it's not good. That Herbert guy and forty other bandits dragged him down to the quarry. I know all of us have improved, but I don't think we can take on forty bandits. Do you think you can handle that many, Mina?"

Mina shook her head. "I might be able to, but it would be too close. We definitely won't be able to break through their defenses. If Keane is still a hostage they'd be able to kill him before we rescued him."

"Then what can we do?!" Cecilia cried.

Mina frowned. "I hate doing this, but..." She looked up at Seomara. "We'll need to rely on your skills as a Milletian."

Seomara took a step back. "Um, what skills are we talking about?"

"Your ability to learn things quickly. You're the only one of us who has a chance of learning how to be stealthy just by trying hard." Mina sighed. "I'm sorry. I know it's unfair. But the rest of us have no chance."

"That's more an elf thing but..." She frowned. She actually did have a vague idea how to sneak around people in the dark. "I think I can give it a shot. But how am I going to get past all those guards with Keane?"

Mina shook her head. "We'll make a distraction, so you won't have to fight all the guards. And you won't have to do anything other then free Keane. The four of us can't beat all those bandits at once. The four of us and Keane can."

"So we run around and keep them on their toes until Seomara sneaks in the back, then we beat them all up?" Ysolte nodded sharply. "Sounds good to me."

"Right!" Cecilia clenched her fists in determination. "Don't worry about us Seomara. We'll hold out until you save Keane!"

Seomara considered the attack. It did seem reasonable. She was a little worried about being in the middle of the camp when the fight went down, but having four strong allies would help. "Alright. Let's do this while it's still dark. There's no way I can pull this off at dawn."

Mina smiled wearily. "Thank you. I'm sure we'll make it through this." She started jogging back down the road. "We'll split up where the trail branches."

Seomara and the others followed.

* * *

Seomara silently cursed her poor vision as she approached the bandit camp. While the moon was full enough to see by, the tiny fire at the center of the bandit camp created a world of dancing shadows within the quarry. Which meant she was having a really hard time telling which of the bandit guards were real. Twice the odd lighting had convinced her she'd gotten caught before the reality of the situation became evident. She was literally jumping at shadows here.

Compared to that the stealth part was easy. Step softly and slowly. Her movements were hardly silent, but the calls of bandit guards reporting back in made that a nonissue. Apparently the other girls' distraction was working well, but the bandits here weren't stupid enough to assume no one else was coming. The perimeter guards had taken to calling in their status regularly so an intruder, like her, couldn't take them out one by one.

She took a few deep breaths to calm the butterflies in her stomach and tried to think of how to handle this. She had the stealth part down, sorta. She just needed to avoid being seen for long. Which meant avoiding the guards.

A few moments later the answer came to her. Their calls gave away their position. She'd have to be careful to make sure she wasn't caught by one during their searches, but she could at least get a general sense of where her foes were.

She closed her eyes and did her best to not think about the time limit. She had to trust Ysolte and the others were holding out well. All that mattered now was finding out where the bandits were. How they moved.

It took ten minutes and three sets of calls, but eventually she saw where the patrols were in her mind. She opened her eyes and began to move in.

The small stones right around her offered no protection when she was moving, but the only person this far out was on the other side of the camp now. She was able to move to the larger stone pillars easily.

These pillars allowed her to hide better. Which was a good thing since there were three bandits circling nearby. She let one pass then moved around the pillar in the same direction the bandit circled it, allowing her to continue on while that bandit continued on. The second bandit paused to yell out he was still fine, allowing her to slip past him as well.

The third cry of "No one here!" made her blood freeze. The last bandit was out of position! He must have gotten bored and started slacking. She quickly moved behind a pillar, only to find herself stuck in a cul de sac.

She pressed herself into the farthest corner she could find and sat on the ground. Her heart was pounding but she forced herself to keep her breathing steady. The bandit was bored right? He would probably be too lazy to inspect this area that well. She just had to not move an inch.

The bandit's footsteps grew ever closer. Seomara held her breath, trying to make sure there wasn't the slightest movement about her. The bandit reached the pillars, and stopped. There was a bit of shuffling. And then the steps mercifully went around the other way.

Seomara exhaled. He was even lazier then she could have hoped. She wanted to take a moment to calm her nerves, but she didn't have the time. Instead she forced herself up and slowly moved back towards her original path.

The final set of pillars proved no challenge. The bandits here had moved on. Now she could see the camp fully.

Keane sat quietly, hands and legs tied up. He looked serious but not afraid. That was a good sign. Unfortunately there were two goblin thugs next to the fire. That was bad. Seomara considered how to get in and free Keane quietly, but nothing came to mind. The man was in the open, and the firelight would give her away in the end.

After a few long moments she decided on the obvious solution. Her Milletian skill at stealth would only get her so far. Now it was time for brash action. She drew a short sword and ran forward.

The goblins yelped and started raising the alarm but she had no time for them. Instead she dashed over to Keane and roughly cut the ropes around his arms. The tall man neatly produced a knife and cut his leg bonds, then hopped to his feet.

Seomara sheathed her blade and moved to try to stand beside him, but he was already on the move. Unlike her own charging strike, his attack crossed the whole campground and laid the first goblin out flat. The second goblin simply received a kick, and then Keane was moving again.

She blinked then began to run after him. "Hey, wait up! I want to do some fighting too!"

* * *

Seomara couldn't help but smile as she walked through the streets of Tir Chonial. She couldn't say she was the most important fighter in that battle. Keane didn't leave many enemies standing for her to fight. But for the first time in a long while she didn't feel like she was dead weight. Her skills and training had all combined to help save the day – well, what little of the day needed saving. When they'd finally met up and routed the surviving bandits, Keane's smile and thumbs up of approval had nearly brought her as much joy as it did the rest of the girls.

As she wandered out into the fields of wheat and barley a voice cried out to her, "Seomara!" She turned to see Cecilia waving at her from over by the windmill.

Returning the wave she continued down the path to where the other fighter was standing. "Heya Cecilia. What's up?"

The energetic girl blushed. "Well, um, I've kinda been thinking about things. Ever since yesterday. I mean, I kinda knew from before but..." The young woman trailed off.

Seomara thought for a moment then guessed, "This is about your crush on Keane isn't it?"

Cecilia's blush deepened. "Yeah." She took a deep breath then the floodgates opened. "I mean it's not just because he's handsome and strong. He's kind and gentle too. I know Ysolte says I get crushes way too easily, but this feels different!" Her face fell. "But I'm kind of worried. I mean, I'm just a part time waitress. I mean, he might think of me just as a child." Cecilia looked up with teary eyes. "What do you think Seomara? Do you think of me as a little sister or something more?"

"Wh-" Seomara started then covered her exclamation with a cough. "Well I mean, I think of you more like a sister, but I'm not Keane. He probably has got a different view of things."

Cecilia frowned a bit, then slowly smiled. "You're right! I'm not just any girl! I've grown a lot, especially since I met you and Keane!" She nodded to herself. "Alright! I'm going to confess my feelings to Keane. I'm not gonna let any little doubts get in my way!" She ran off, only turning to wave goodbye. "Thanks for everything Seomara!"

"You're welcome?" Seomara said as she returned the wave. Shrugging she continued walking past the mill and the hotel, towards where Ferghus, famously the worst blacksmith alive, had his shop. She slowed down as she reached the small bridge leading to the smithy. Strangely there was no sound of hammering metal. Curious she walked over.

To her surprise Ysolte was standing there talking to Ferghus with a sad smile on her face. "Yeah. I guess it was something like boy trouble. But it's alright."

The bearded smith chuckled. "Well that's how it works out sometimes at your age."

Seomara made her steps heavier to discretely announce herself. The two turned. "Hey Seomara," Ysolte said. "Thanks for everything. We're all lucky you were around to help."

"It was a group effort," Seomara replied with a smile.

Ysolte smiled a little more, then her face fell and she began kicking the ground nervously. "Hey Seomara. Could you answer me a question? Who do you think is better suited for Keane: Me or Mina?"

"Gah-" This time Seomara couldn't control her reaction. "Why do people think I know what kind of girls Keane likes? We're not that similar right?"

The blue haired girl folded her arms and shuffled her feet some more. "Just guess."

Seomara scratched her head. 'Well I mean you..."

Ysolte's head snapped up. "That's what I thought! But.." the woman sighed. "Cecilia's caught up in this as well. And Mina's known him for so long."

"You don't have to worry, Ysolte." Mina said as she stepped from the shadows.

Seomara and Ysolte both jumped at the sudden arrival. "What!" Ysolte growled. "How long have you been eavesdropping?"

"And weren't you supposed to be bad at hiding?" Seomara muttered.

"Don't worry. I've known you liked Keane from the start," Mina said. "You're really harsh to people you have a crush on, but I know the signs."

"And I know you're in love with him as well," Ysolte returned.

Mina nodded and adjusted her glasses. "Yes. I've been with Keane for years. But I've never seen him quite as animated as he was with you and Cecilia. I have to admit I don't have a chance."

Ysolte shook her head. "No. I couldn't tell him. I'd break Cecilia's heart, not to mention yours."

Seomara carefully brushed her hair back over her ears. "Well so long as everyone agrees..." Including Keane she added mentally.

"Yeah," Ysolte nodded and smiled again. "Well, we'll see what happens."

"Indeed," Mina replied.

Seomara waved to the two and headed off to safer pastures. Like Alby dungeon. Giant spiders were much safer then whatever was going to happen here. All the girls might smiling, but nothing good came from those kind of smiles.


	12. Chapter 12

Seomara stretched as she exited Alby dungeon. The world had one less giant spider in it, and she felt great. Once a beast like that would have been an easy kill, but still required a fair amount of attention. Now it was a speedbump. A single windmill cleared out the lesser spiders allowing her to pin the bigger one to the ground and pummel it into submission. She loved her new techniques so much.

As she walked down the road towards the square she saw the lanky figure of Keane. But unlike normally the man was holding his stomach and grimacing. Frowning she hurried her pace. "Hey Keane." The man nodded weakly in reply. "Did you eat something bad? I can go grab you something from the healer's house up the road if you need-"

Keane shook his head and held up three fingers. It took her a moment to parse the statement but understanding slowly came to her. "All three of them confessed to you didn't they?"

"HOW COULD YOU?!"

Keane nodded and pointed to the performing area of the square where the three stood, surrounded by curious Milletians. Seomara hesitated, then walked forward despite her better interests.

"How could you betray me like that Ysolte?!" Cecilia screamed. "You knew I was after him!"

"And what ever happened to leaving him to me and her?!" Mina yelled.

Ysolte stomped her foot. "Weren't you giving up, Mina?!"

"Yeah, you've had your chance," Cecilia said, whirling on the older woman.

Seomara stepped forward. She knew she was going to say the wrong thing, because there was no right thing to say, but she still had to try. "Um-"

"Seomara!" All three women spun to face her. She forced herself to not show fear. "Which one of us is best suited for Keane?"

She looked between the three. How was she supposed to play matchmaker? She tried one last time to inject something resembling reason into the fight. "Ysolte-"

"Hah!" Ysolte smiled triumphantly. "I told you!"

"Fine, then we'll just have to prove you two wrong," Mina cried out.

The siren's first attack came out of nowhere, the charging right cross striking Ysolte across the face. Seomara immediately dropped into a countering stance. "What are you doing?"

"I'll be your opponent!" Cecilia cried out. The young fighter tried the same move against Seomara, but the element of surprise was gone. Seomara stepped forward and countered Cecilia's punch with a shoulder rush, knocking the smaller woman to the ground.

Seeing Ysolte was about to take an uppercut from Mina, she dashed forward herself, landing a jab into the older woman's ribs. Ysolte took the opportunity to drive a focused elbow into Mina's stomach.

Pain and stars burst into Seomara's head. She stumbled forward to find Cecilia had blindsided her. Meanwhile Ysolte was giving Mina a few kicks to keep the better fighter off balance. Seeing that matter was handled, Seomara moved to defend against another attack.

"Stop this!"

The four froze. Keane's normally smiling face was a furious grimace. "I taught you all how to fight so you could help others, not hurt your friends! What are you doing?!"

Seomara felt her heart droop a bit, and that was with knowing she'd tried to stop this mess. The other three looked like they'd just had the life drained out of them.

Keane simply stood there glaring as the three fidgeted uncomfortably. Somehow the man's frown was more painful than a screaming lecture. Several times one of the three girls opened their mouth to speak, then lowered their eyes and fidgeted some more. Seomara simply shuffled out of the pack. This wasn't her romantic mess.

Finally Ysolte managed to break the silence. "You're right. This was stupid. I don't even want to settle down. I've got things I want to do. Like go exploring in Coracle, or trading. And I've got a good friend I want to spend time with." Seomara blinked as the blue haired fighter looked at her.

Cecilia and Mina looked at each other, then back to Keane. "I'm sorry," Cecilia said. "I was only thinking about myself. I didn't think about what you wanted."

"I..." Mina wiped her eyes, then turned and dashed away. Keane held up a hand, then sighed and shook his head before turning back to Cecilia and whispering something to the woman.

Ysolte moved over to where Seomara stood. "We probably should head somewhere else."

Seomara looked after where the siren had run, then back to Cecilia and Keane were talking. "Yeah."

* * *

Blurpleberry ran towards the two goblins, lowering his swords. As the two creatures reached just the right distance he jabbed both blades forward and then slashed upwards. Each monster got a blade in the gut before being sliced into the air. A key fell out as they hit the ground. Then there was stillness.

"Boring," the warrior muttered. He moved to pick up the key, then summoned his stead to press further into the dungeon faster.

Normally he wouldn't even bother with such a weak dungeon. But he heard there was a rare tome that taught powerful magic hidden somewhere in here. That book was his goal, either for his own use, or to sell to some other aspiring mage.

He halted his breakneck ride long enough to unlock the next door. The next chamber brought a smile to his face. There were four mystic orbs and the massive locked form of the boss door. All he had to do was hit the right orb to get the door open.

Banishing his steed he smacked the first orb. A group of goblin archers appeared in response. Without a word he jogged into their middle, then sliced them all down. It was a well-practiced maneuver. He wasn't sure who designed the monster teleports, but whoever it was, they apparently didn't care about massive losses.

The second orb brought a wave of spiders, which he just ignored. The creatures were barely hostile. The third orb however was the correct one. The door opened with a shriek, sending the spiders scurrying away.

"Who dares interrupt my work!" yelled a black robed figure from the room. Blurpleberry sized up the situation. The man had five wisps with him, but they were spread out. He could make a beeline for the dark wizard safely.

To think was to act. He mentally raised a shield of mana just in case, then pressed forward, swords loose at his sides.

The mana shield had been a good idea. The wizard summoned up a pair of icebolts and slammed them into Blurpleberry one at a time. His own mana blocked the full impact, but he still felt himself being driven back.

"Curse you!" the Fomor wizard roared, attempting to focus a stronger spell.

Blurpleberry rushed forward, cutting at the man's arms. The wizard stumbled back, barely escaping the blades. Blurpleberry continued the attack, cutting twice more, then swinging both blades in a twinned arc. The wizard managed to dodge the single strikes, but the double cut forced him to block with armguards. "Augh!" the Fomor cried as it fell to the ground.

Blurpleberry didn't stop there. He leaped up, then tried to land on his foe. The wizard rolled out of the way, but not far enough. The warrior swept his blades around in a deadly spin.

The black robes ripped open, then began to pool with blood. The dark wizard flopped to the ground limply.

Blurpleberry dismissed the mana shield. It was annoying how poor his enemies were sometimes. If the wizard had focused on fire instead of ice, or if it had spent more time casting rather than complaining, Blurpleberry might have taken real damage.

Blurpleberry shrugged then spent the next few moments cleaning out the wisps one by one. It was a simple task due to the room's size. When he finished he moved on to the treasure room.

Since there was no one else to wait for he flipped open the box. On seeing the book lying on a bed of gold inside he pumped his fist in excitement. "Score!" He quickly stuffed the money all into his pouch, then opened the book.

His joy evaporated into frustrated anger. The whole book was in the language of the Fomors. This couldn't be what he was looking for. "Why can't things just work out normally?" he muttered.

Still he put it in his bag. Maybe someone would buy it. Turning towards the goddess statue, he touched the base to leave the dungeon. He had time enough to try two other dungeons today. Ones with rewards he was more certain of.

* * *

The crow of a rooster cut through the early morning haze. In Dunbarton or Tara the bells would have announced the dawn, but in the lazy village of Tir Chonial more traditional methods were used.

Seomara lazily opened her eyes and stood. The small field next to the bank was a nice place to nap in the predawn. More importantly, she was expecting someone here.

"Hello, Seomara."

She turned and waved as Ysolte approached. "Heya. Been a while." Or maybe it hadn't. Seomara had a hard time with the time differences between the two races. Still given Ysolte's frown she erred on the side of caution.

The blue haired woman waved in return before crossing her arms. "Yeah. I've been busy so I haven't been able to meet up. Sorry."

"It's fine." Seomara sat down on the ground and patted the space next to her. "I'm just glad you could take some time off to meet with me."

Ysolte's frown melted into a shy smile. "Well, what kind of friend would I be if I couldn't get a little time off?" She carefully sat down herself. "Still, this has been a busier week than most. You heard Cecilia and Keane got married right?"

"Yeah." Seomara hesitated a moment. "Was Mina there?"

Ysolte sighed. "No. There have been rumors of a masked fighter wandering around helping out people who are being attacked by monsters or bandits, but she hasn't shown up."

The two sat in silence for a bit. Finally Ysolte asked, "So what have you been doing with your free time?"

Seomara shrugged. "Mostly trading and training." She stretched again. "It's really hard to master these techniques, but I feel I keep getting stronger as I study them."

The blue haired warrior raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm kind of curious. What are you getting stronger for? I can't imagine it's just to help you carry better trade goods."

"Why I'm getting stronger?" Seomara blinked. "I… I'm not sure I remember."

Ysolte's frown deepened. "Actually, I'm curious why all of you Milletians seem to train for battle. Erinn is dangerous, but there are lots of things to do other than fight."

A spark flashed in Seomara's memory. That quest Nao had sent her on long ago. The one she could never overcome. "I…" She looked down at her hands. Had she managed to gain enough strength to seek out the Goddess? She still felt her power was lacking, but…

Seomara looked at Ysolte, newfound determination sinking into her. "Thank you. You reminded me of something important." Her hands tightened into fists. "There's something I have to look into."

Ysolte seemed confused by that. "Huh? What is it?"

"I'm not sure about the details yet. But I know I need to go to Ciar Dungeon." Seomara said. "That's where Tarlach's clues pointed me." She rolled her shoulders to calm down. "But that can wait. After all you don't have that much time before you have to get moving again. We should enjoy the day off, right?"

"Yeah," Ysolte smiled again.

Seomara stood, then dusted herself off. "Then let's start with breakfast."

A devilish smirk crept over Ysolte's face. "Just so long as you aren't cooking."

"One day I'll make you eat those words," Seomara muttered as the two headed over to the grocery store.


	13. Chapter 13

Her newfound strength had proven to be more than a match for the dungeon. It was almost embarrassing. The giant golem that had faced her at the end had frightened her for a moment, but her skills had managed to lock the monstrous beast down until she could smash it to dust. In the end she hadn't even been scratched.

Seomara stared down at the strange emblem she'd gotten from her run. The Fomor Medal seemed like an odd treasure to hide, but perhaps there was some significance to it beyond just being a shiny amulet.

The hooting of an owl distracted her from the odd item. She held out her free hand and caught the scroll the owl dropped into it. Opening the missive she found it short and to the point.

"Seomara,

I hate imposing, but I need your help. You're one of the few Milletians I can trust. If you have the time, please come meet me in Sidhe Sneachta at nightfall.

Carnelia."

Seomara pocketed the note and the Fomor Medal. The Sidhe Sneachta snowfield was close, and she owed Carnelia a lot of favors. Maybe now she could pay some of those off.

Looking up she saw it was still a little before noon, so she wouldn't need to rush. Thus instead of summoning her mount, she just walked through the outskirts of Tir Chonial. The wolves in the area occasionally popped up to growl at her, but none dared make a move.

About twenty minutes later she arrived at the pastures of the village. The shepherd boy was asleep, but one of the sheep dogs gave a welcoming bark as she wandered back into town.

She took her time in the town, buying food and potions from the various shops before heading up the road past Alby dungeon. Here the path was lined with wooden stakes, a remnant of the walls that once protected the village from escaping monsters. Now hordes of young adventurers served that purpose.

The road slowly turned from well packed dirt to a thin trail. Seomara slowed as the trail started to climb, working its way into the forested mountains. Soon the temperature dropped, and snow began to line the trail. Seomara pressed on through the last twists and turns, until the forest opened up into a small clearing with snowmen in it. And beyond those snowmen stood the gate to Sidhe Sneachta, the sealed realm of the druid's sorrow.

She shaded her eyes and looked up to try to judge the time. It looked to be around fiveish, so she decided to wait. Breaking out an ax, she cut a few branches to start a small fire before breaking out the bread and cheese she'd acquired for the journey. As she ate she paced around the small blaze. Sitting in the snow itself seemed a poor way to rest.

Night had fallen and the fire was starting to die when Seomara heard the sound of horses coming up the path. To her surprise the first person who rode into view was Blurpleberry. The warrior had traded his shark robe for a layered yellow green robe but otherwise he looked much the same as usual. "Hello," she said. "Did Carnelia ask you here as well?"

"Yeah, do you know why?" He hopped down. "I didn't think there were any dungeons up here, much less any monsters worth fighting."

Seomara shrugged. "The only thing up here I know about is Tarlach. And I don't think he's got any treasure, much less is willing to part with it."

Blurpleberry frowned, then shrugged. "Oh well. I'm sure she'll explain when she gets here."

A few minutes later the clatter of hooves indicated another's arrival. Carnelia quickly dismounted as soon as she got to the clearing. "Sorry I'm late. My work in Tara took longer than expected."

"No worries," Seomara said. "So why did you call us all here?"

Carnelia waved them towards the portal. "We should talk on the way. I'll need to explain this to Tarlach as well, but I can give you the short version while we walk."

"Alright." Blurpleberry started jogging towards the portal. Carnelia and Seomara began following along at a slightly slower pace.

Seomara looked over the elder Milletian as they passed through the portal to the upper snowfield. She hadn't known the woman long, but she had the feeling Carnelia was really worried. "So what's the short version?"

Carnelia grimaced. "I think the Fomors are planning something. I'm hoping that Tarlach can give me some more information, but if I'm right I won't be able to handle it alone. In addition I'm missing a lot of the pieces. Even if I'm wrong I'll need some help to make certain of that."

"So why do we need to chat with Tarlach?" Blurpleberry asked.

Carnelia sighed. "Because he's the only human alive who has been to Tir Na Nog and back. Only he knows the passage. And if I'm right, the Fomors are gathering strength there."

"Tir Na Nog?" Seomara thought for a moment. "I remember reading a book on that. The legendary paradise; where age, sickness, fear and pain don't exist." She frowned. "And I remember Tarlach telling me that it was all a lie when I asked him about it the first time."

"I don't know if it's a paradise or a nightmare, but we may need to go there either way." Carnelia replied.

Blurpleberry nodded towards the small stonehenge that was coming into view, and the figure that stood on the magical platform. "Well first we'll have to convince him."

The three fell silent as they approached Tarlach. Seomara had seen visions of his past, and she knew the power the young druid wielded. She also knew whatever power he had, the battle in Tir Na Nog had damaged his body irreparably. During the day he had to wander as a bear, eating mana herbs to keep his body from deteriorating. He looked fine physically, but the weariness and the defeated look on his young face showed the scars ran deep.

Tarlach adjusted his broken glasses, then leaned on his staff. "So, why have you come to this forsaken place?"

Carnelia stepped forward. "Glas Ghaibhleann."

The druid froze. "Where did you hear that name?"

"I overheard two Fomor talking about it. I know some of the language." Carnelia shook her head. "I'm not certain, but I believe the Fomor intend to release it upon Erinn to wipe out humanity."

"Wait, how did you manage to eavesdrop on Fomor like that?" Blurpleberry asked.

Carnelia held up a dreamcatcher with a long handle and silvery threads. "I learned how to change form from a Shaman in Cor. She taught me a number of animal forms that can be used to scout. The Fomors don't usually notice another bat flying about."

"That's really cool!" Seomara gushed. The power to transform into magical creatures was awesome! She made a mental note to visit Cor and learn the skill sometime soon.

Tarlach shifted uneasily. "I see."

"I also found this," Carnelia said holding out a black covered book. "I could only read a little bit of it, but it seems to talk a bit about a druid named Mores."

Tarlach closed his eyes in pain. "Yes. He was my teacher."

"Hey that book looks like the one I picked up." Blurpleberry pulled out another black tome from his pack. "So it's written in Fomor?"

"Yes," Carnelia answered. "Unfortunately I'm not that good at reading the language."

Seomara frowned as the symbol on the book jogged something in her memory. "That icon on the spine. It looks like this." She fished out the Fomor Medalion.

"It is. Those are the symbols of the goddess the Fomors use to bypass the dungeons." Tarlach said bitterly. "With those icons they can move to our world unimpaired."

The medallion shone darkly as Seomara looked it over. "Wait... Are you saying the goddess is helping the Fomors, Tarlach?"

Tarlach looked away. "Talk to the priestess in Dunbarton if you want answers. She'll know how to translate the book too." He hesitated before pulling out another tome. "Here's the first in the series."

"Kristell?" Carnelia accepted the book. "We'll speak to her then. Thank you."

The three adventurers looked at each other then nodded. It seemed they'd have to find their answers elsewhere for now.

As one they summoned their mounts and began racing back towards the mountain pass. They needed to reach the gate before the priestess turned in for the night.

Unlike most towns Dunbarton's moon gate was just a little outside the city proper. With Dunbarton's compact layout, that meant it was easy to get nearly anywhere in the city. From the gates it was simply a left turn, then up several flights to stairs to reach the church on the lone hill.

Seomara sighed with relief when she saw the lights were still on. "It looks like we made it on time."

"Good. I'd hate to have to sit around waiting for morning," Blurpleberry said as he walked up to knock on the church doors.

A few moments passed, then the door opened to reveal a tall priestess with hair and eyes the color of wine. Her face seemed stern, but her manner seemed kind. Seomara recognized her as the priestess who usually stood out in front of the shrine helping travelers. "Yes, what can the church of Lymilark do for you this evening? I fear if you're looking to help in exchange for holy water it is a bit late."

Carnelia held out her book. "Actually we were wondering if you could help us translate these tomes. They're in the Fomor language, but Tarlach said you might be able to help us."

"Tarlach?" The woman's placid expression shattered into surprise. "Where is he? What has he been doing all this time?"

The three looked at each other again. "Seems that Tarlach didn't tell us the entire story," Blurpleberry muttered.

Seomara decided to explain. "He has to stay in Sidhe Sneachta. His wounds require him to stay in bear form most of the day."

"Oh." Kristell looked down at the ground. When she looked up again however her expression had hardened a bit. "Is that what he told you?" She paused and looked away. Seomara shifted uneasily as the silence lingered. It seemed they were trespassing in people's private lives. Blurpleberry crossed his arms and began waiting.

Carnelia broke the silence. "You should show her the medal as well, Seomara."

"That's right." Seomara fished out the dark Fomor Medal. "He also said you might know about this too. He said this was the token the Fomors used to bypass the labyrinth." She hesitated then continued. "He seemed to think the goddess Morrighan was giving them to the Fomors."

Kristell peered closely. "This is a Fomor travel medal yes, but I don't recall hearing anything about it being given to them by the goddess." She frowned and slowly flipped the medallion over, looking at it from all sides. "I also find it hard to believe that the goddess who sacrificed so much for Erinn would turn against humanity."

"That does seem weird," Seomara said. "Especially since Nao and the goddess both have asked Milletians to work to free her."

"Kinda dumb to do both at the same time," Blurpleberry remarked.

Carnelia shook her head. "Don't get too comfortable with that reasoning. People can do strange things for strange reasons. And goddesses are notorious for being even stranger." She hesitated. "Though in this case I admit I'm unsure which is more likely." The mage nodded towards the books. "The answer may lie in those, however."

Kristell hesitated. "I understand your need here. And I do want to help rescue the goddess. However..."

She sighed, then held out a small pouch. "Here. This might explain matters." Carnelia took it and pulled out the contents, revealing a pair of broken glasses. "I'm afraid only one of you can get the full experience, but the others should be able to watch." She turned away. "The translation will take a few days. So while you wait, could you do me a favor?"

Seomara looked over at the other two Milletians to see what they thought, only to see Carnelia doing the same. Blurpleberry on the other hand just shrugged. "Sure. It'll be a good way to pass time."

She turned back towards them, and her eyes were hard. "Tell Tarlach I'd like to hear from him as a friend. I'm not just a translator who serves at his whim."

"Will do." Seomara winced at the words.

"Thank you." Kristell held the books to her chest. "You'll understand a little more when you place those glasses on the altar of Rabbie dungeon." She turned to head back inside. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should probably begin work translating these. I'll send a message when I'm finished."

"Our thanks," Carnelia said as Kristell took her leave.

The three adventures all moved to look at the glasses. "Does everyone have time to go to Rabbie?" Carnelia asked. "This might take a while so..."

"I'm free," Blurpleberry said. "How about you Seomara?"

Seomara nodded. "If this is as important as you think it is Carnelia, we should get it done quickly."

Carnelia summoned her horse. "All right. Then let's head out."


	14. Chapter 14

Carnelia took one last look over her comrades to make sure they all were ready. Blurpleberry looked like he was already getting bored, while Seomara was starting to twitch in anticipation. It was interesting how differently they viewed the wait.

Still this wasn't the time to muse about that. She carefully removed the glasses, then let them fall upon the runed floor.

All at once her vision became hazy. As the mists started to form in her mind it became evident she would be the one reliving the events directly. As the her mind cleared a little she found herself looking out unfamiliar eyes. The glasses on her face confirmed that she was in the body of Tarlach.

The man looked around, and Carnelia was a little surprised to not see the druid's other companions: the young archer Mari, or the boisterous warrior Ruairi. It seemed Tarlach had infiltrated this dungeon on his own today.

Still it was no problem to the young druid. Carnelia felt herself drawn along in the man's footsteps. Each obstacle was handled by searing flame or thunderous lightning. Simple spells true, but simple spells cast with perfect timing and focus. It was humbling the amount of power the man wielded. Carnelia was good with magic, but not that good.

As Tarlach finished off the last of the defenders and wandered into the final room, Carnelia saw the familiar figure of a succubus. The guardians of Rabbie. A succubus in black, with hair and eyes the color of wine. A wave of disorientation hit her.

This was Kristell, the _succubus _priestess that _loved her _they'd just left. _The succubus who was going to try to capture her again._

As her head cleared from the conflicting emotions she heard Kristell start up a song. It sounded like the song succubi normally sang, calling on the warrior to put down their sword and gaze into the succubus' mesmerizing eyes. But the tone was different than any song she'd heard previously. And it ended with her calling _h_er Tarlach 'Master of the Black Rose.'

It was impressive, but not very tempting. _She _Tarlach simply stepped forward.

"Did you like the song? I wrote it for you." Kristell asked.

"I'm well aware of your beauty and skill. But I don't want to be greeted by the song you write to lure humans to you."

Kristell closed her eyes. "And yet you've returned here five times. What do you seek, if not me?"

"Tir Na Nog." Tarlach replied.

Kristell nodded. "Well as a Fomor, I can't just let you pass. Even if you've beaten me before, I have to challenge you."

"Shouldn't the hero be the one doing the challenging?" Tarlach mused. "Still I won't back down."

Kristell hesitated and blushed. "Today... today I will beat you. And when I do... will you let me love you?"

Carnelia's vision grew more hazy as Tarlach's pity and regret surged forth. "I know you're not evil in your heart. But I can't do that. As a druid or as a hero." The succubus' face fell, but the woman moved to fight none the less.

The battle ended predictably. Tarlach fell back from Kristell's sword, then retaliated with bolts of fire. The black clad succubus fell to the ground, wounded, but not fatally.

As Tarlach stepped forward, Kristell pushed herself into a sitting position. "I really wanted to win today..."

Carnelia felt her connection to the event fading, but she heard Tarlach say, "Love isn't about overpowering people."

As the stone walls of Rabbie appeared around her she muttered, "It isn't about becoming absorbing in your own troubles and pushing people away either."

When the memory finally cleared away she saw Seomara and Blurpleberry standing next to her, just as they were before. Seomara cracked her knuckles and frowned. "Tarlach's got some explaining to do."

Blurpleberry stared at the floor a bit before looking up at the other two. "Wait, why is the church ordaining succubi? And why does Kristell look totally human now?"

Carnelia felt a tinge of embarrassment. "Those are probably pretty good questions to ask as well."

* * *

Tarlach began to sweat as two pairs of eyes burned into him. Blurpleberry's general disinterest didn't help matters either. "Is... something wrong?"

"Kristell had something she wanted to ask you about," Carnelia replied with a terrifying smile. Tarlach's stomach decided to try to take leave at the sight.

The druid could only pray Kristell wasn't nearly as annoyed as the two young Milletians before him seemed to be. "Perhaps I should have sent a message earlier?"

"Perhaps," Seomara stated.

Tarlach winced. "I see. Could I ask you to make another delivery along the way?"

* * *

Kristell looked down at the black rose Carnelia had handed her and smiled. "So, he did remember." Seomara shifted uncomfortably as the woman closed her eyes. She got the feeling she was pushing into other people's personal lives again.

Then again, at least this time no punches were being thrown.

The priestess carefully set the rose down, then turned to face the adventurers. "I suppose you have some questions," she said with an arched eyebrow.

"A few," Carnelia admitted.

"Succubi and priestesses usually only mix in questionable books," Blurpleberry added. Seomara shot the man a look, but Kristell seemed to take it in stride.

Kristell nodded and her expression became more serious. "With a miracle from Lymilark I was able to become a human. I no longer have the power of the Fomor. After that I started training to become a druid, but the magic of the priesthood was more suited to my goals."

"Thanks for telling us," Seomara said.

The priestess nodded. "I don't consider it that big a secret. In addition if you seek to aid the goddesses I should offer you what support I can." Her expression grew more grave. "And if what I read in those tomes you gave me is true, I fear you'll need all the help you can get."

She placed the three tomes down before them. "I advise you to skim the tomes. The writer's rants are very disjointed. I fear he's no longer sane. However, the relevant points should be obvious from a quick reading."

Seomara looked over Carnelia's shoulder as the dark complexioned woman began leafing through the pages. It quickly became evident that Kristell was understating matters. The writer, Mores, often allowed himself to become sidetracked by his rants against humanity. In Mores' eyes, humanity could do no good. They were a force of chaos inimical to nature. Similarly he seemed to only have praise for the order of the Fomor.

"Are the Fomor really that orderly?" she asked the group at large. "It seemed more like they followed 'might makes right'. I remember the imps in Belvast seemed almost happy that the humans took the island."

Carnelia nodded. "That's correct." She hesitated then looked up at the former succubus. "Unless Kristell knows something I don't."

"That mostly covers it," Kristell said. "Things are different among each race of Fomor, but in general the strong tend to lead the weak."

"Hm... I know druids can get a little attached to nature. Or at least I think I remember something like that," Blurpleberry commented. "Did this Mores guy go a little too far?"

Carnelia's expression darkened. "No. He doesn't seem to believe in a twisted vision of 'survival of the fittest' or similar nonsense. I wonder if perhaps he lost faith in humanity instead."

"That seems like one hell of a jump to me," Seomara snapped. She looked down at the accusatory scrawls on the page. She was relatively young, but she was pretty certain all of humanity wasn't as terrible as that.

"Don't be too sure," Carnelia replied. "There are plenty of nobles in the kingdom who abuse their titles. Not to mention Mores was a Druid. It's possible he lost many friends and colleagues in the Tragedy of Emain Macha."

Seomara looked up from the book at Carnelia. Behind the elder Milletian she could see Blurpleberry doing the same. "The Tragedy of Emain Macha?"

For the first time since they'd met, Seomara saw anger flit across Carnelia's face. "Not long after the Fomor War ended, a group of alchemists rampaged through Emain Macha, attacking every druid in the city. Both sides used fire, so a great deal of the city burned. In the end most of the druids and their families had been wiped out." Carnelia's grip tightened on the book in her hands. "A number of the alchemists were known to be in service to the crown. They were officially branded renegades, but no action was ever taken to hunt them down."

"That's..." Seomara blanched at the scope of the damage and corruption. She felt her fists clenching. She wanted to find the people responsible and right those wrongs. To destroy them utterly. She dismissed the urge. It was a foolish thought. Still... "That might explain why he's mad then."

Kristell coughed lightly. "While an interesting theory, it seems unlikely. Mores was one of the great heroes of the Fomor Wars. He fought against a powerful Fomor wizard who tried to drop one of the moons onto the humans. At the climax of that battle Mores cast a spell that blasted away the countryside for about a mile. Both were assumed lost."

"Are you saying he's a ghost?" Blurpleberry asked.

"More likely the blast took them into the shadow realm. But either way he would not have been able to find out about the Tragedy of Emain Macha easily." Kristell shrugged. "Still no matter what the man's reasons are he's a dangerous foe."

"And he's summoning the Glas Ghaibhleann," Carnelia said tapping the third book. "I hope he merely intends to summon one."

Blurpleberry shrugged. "If there's only one it shouldn't be a big deal right? We just need to kill it."

Seomara shook her head. "I've seen the ruins of the Sen Mag plains. According to the tales that was the result of a mere handful of Glas Ghaibhleann. They're more powerful then dragons, so the story goes. And even if you kill them they explode in disease and dark magic." She shook her head. "If one got into Erinn just killing it might slaughter thousands."

'That seems like cheating to me," Blurpleberry said with a frown.

"Cheating or not, that seems to be the Fomor's plans." Carnelia tapped the final passage. "And what worries me the most is he seems to agree with Tarlach. He believes the goddess has given him her blessing."

"Which still doesn't make any sense!" Seomara stared at the work in disgust. "Maybe he's just insane?"

Kristell shrugged. "I fear I can't say. Still if he was in the shadow realm, Tarlach might know more." She tapped the translated books. "Perhaps with this you can stir him to action."

Seomara looked up. The sun was still high in the sky. Turning to her companions she said, "So we meet at Tarlach's when the moon rises?"

"Sounds good to me," Blurpleberry said before hurrying off.

Carnelia nodded. "I'll see you there." She bowed to the priestess. "Thank you for all your help Kristell."

"I'm only doing my duty," the red haired woman replied modestly. "Thank you for working to help all of Erinn. I wish you luck on your quest."


	15. Chapter 15

Seomara warmed her hands next to the fire while Carnelia absently gnawed on an apple.

"I still think we should press on," Blurpleberry muttered. "It's just a little dark."

"We hunted for that chest in the grass for an hour. And we still wouldn't have found it if Seomara hadn't tripped on the thing," Carnelia pointed out. "What if it had been a poisonous snake instead of a chest? No. It's too dark to continue."

"Hmph." The swordsman looked disgruntled but simply pulled out a small pillow and laid down to rest.

Personally Seomara was glad for the reprieve. She hated to admit it, but she was nearly night blind. Her fellows had problems seeing dark objects. She could barely make out anything other than silhouettes.

Besides, she didn't often have a chance to laze about and just chat with fellow Milletians. Even if the times were grim, it was important to savor such fleeting moments.

"I wonder why Tarlach is sending us on this mission," she mused.

"Perhaps he thinks something in his memories will help us on our journey. Or convince us to leave him alone." Carnelia sighed. "I don't think he knows what he wants."

Seomara watched the smoke rise. "Perhaps we'll find out in his memories what hurt him so much."

"Perhaps," Carnelia replied.

Silence fell over the group, broken only by the crackle as logs slowly broke. Seomara hugged her legs closer and watched the flames dance, the dried wood slowly turning red, then black, then grey.

A sudden thought struck her. A question that had been in her mind for a while. "Hey. Do either of you remember the world we came from?"

"Huh?" Carnelia looked over in surprise and Blurpleberry opened an eye. "The world we came from?"

"Yeah..." Seomara looked down at the fire. "We're supposed to be souls brought in from another realm. Travelers who got taken to a magical world." She hesitated a moment, worried about her companions' reactions, but she forced that aside. "But I don't remember anything. I have ideas. Glances. Visions sometimes. Nothing more. The other Milletians I hear wandering around talk about their families and their lives back home. But I don't remember things like that. I can't even picture my parents' faces." She looked up then flinched away at the strange looks the others were giving her.

"So you can't remember your past either?" Carnelia asked.

Seomara looked up at the elder Milletian. "Huh? Do you mean…?"

Carnelia nodded slowly. "It's a very uncommon trait. But we're not the only ones." She smiled slightly. "I didn't think we were so similar though. I'm glad we were able to become friends."

Seomara felt herself blush a little as she smiled in return. "Thanks. I'm glad I met you too."

"That's abnormal?" Blurpleberry asked. "Huh. I guess that explains some things."

Seomara and Carnelia both looked at the resting warrior. "You mean you never wondered what all the other Milletians were talking about when they went on about home?" Seomara asked.

Blurpleberry absently shrugged. "I never really paid much attention. It's like 'please give me one thousand gold.' You just tune that nonsense out." He closed his eyes again. "It's not what I'm looking for."

The two girls looked at each other. Finally Seomara broke down and giggled. Cernelia giggled in response. It was just too ludicrous. There was nothing you could say to a bold statement like that.

Seomara leaned back on the grass of the dungeon. "Well, we should probably keep some sort of watch while we rest. Who should go first?"

"I can keep watch," Carnelia said. "You go ahead and rest up. I'll just meditate to help replenish my magic."

Carnelia would probably always take watch if they asked her Seomara realized. Next time she should probably offer instead so the work was shared evenly. For now though she really wanted to sleep. "Thanks, Carnelia."

Seomara closed her eyes, and let the warmth of the fire guide her to dreamland.

* * *

The stony plated bull lowed its rage and rushed at her. Seomara ignored the creature and instead focused on her fist. In just a few seconds the blow would be fully charged and then…

"Oof" Seomara grunted as the gorgon put on a burst of speed and headbutted her. As she fell on her back she saw Blurpleberry stab the monster and get knocked back by a kick. "I hate these things!"

Concentrated fire smashed into the monstrosity, sending it to the ground with a final moo. "Are you two alright?" Carnelia asked.

Seomara stood. "Yeah, just bruised. It didn't break my armor."

"Same," Blurpleberry responded. "They aren't really threatening, just annoying. Things are supposed to flinch when you stab them."

"They can grind you down after a long time," Carnelia pointed out. "And you should learn how to handle creatures with resistances like that. There are several creatures with that ability. And not all are as slow and pathetic as zombies."

Seomara frowned. "That'll mess with my fighter techniques, since I need to chain them."

"We'll just need to get strong enough to one shot the enemies," Blurpleberry said.

"Somehow that seems like it's a bit simplistic," Seomara muttered as she picked up the boss key. "Well at least we don't have to worry about them wearing us down."

Carnelia nodded. "Now be careful. This magic powder shouldn't be guarded heavily, but we can't be certain."

The trio walked through the dense forest until they reached the penultimate clearing. The massive steel gate marring the forest's natural splendor showed where their goal lay. Seomara stepped forward and unlocked the door with a screech of rusty metal. The gate swung open to reveal a small patch of rubble and several flying swords.

She heard Carnelia summoning her magic, while Blurpleberry rushed forward on the left. Seomara however focused on the rubble. She'd seen rubble like that before in Ciar. While this pile was smaller, she could sense something hostile from it.

Taking a chance she rushed at the small set of white boulders. Sure enough the stones animated and began to stomp towards her impossibly quickly. Her technique was even faster though. Her right hook smashed into the golem's central column stunning the creature. She followed it up with three kicks, than smashed it to the ground to begin pummeling it.

The sharp crack of a lightning bolt being charged nearby made her hesitate, but the clang of metal on metal removed her worries. She got in a few more blows, then flipped off before the creature could retaliate.

As she landed she assumed a defensive posture against the golem's further attacks, but that was unneeded. Blurpleberry strode in from behind the creature as it rose and smashed it with both swords. The small golem collapsed with a final roar.

"Nicely done," Carnelia said as they moved to the small room in the back. "Now we merely need to get the preservation powder."

"And from there to Math dungeon." Blurpleberry moved to check one of the chests. "Gold here."

Carnelia opened hers. "Same. As well as a useless scroll."

Seomara moved in past the statue of the goddess to open the final chest. Inside was gold, along with a vial of powder that softly glowed. She carefully took the vial out. "I think this is it…."

"Excellent." Carnelia strode over and pulled out the pouch with Tarlach's broken glasses. "Now, this can be a little tricky…." The mage sprinkled dust over the glasses, then closed her eyes. Seomara could feel magical energy flowing through the air as the broken frames slowly melded back together, then the cracks in the glass rapidly faded away. As the magic died Carnelia opened her eyes. "There. Done."

"Now for some answers," Seomara said.

She hoped those answers wouldn't create more questions.

* * *

Blurpleberry blinked as the fuzzy strands of memory attached to his brain. These 'playbacks' from the dungeon always gave him a bit of a headache. It didn't help that it always seemed to be mages and whatnot running through the mazes.

This time his point of view felt lower than normal and an unfamiliar weapon was in his hands. A bow. That meant he was… Mari?

The young girl looked over towards her companions and Blurpleberry could see the swordsman Ruairi and druid Tarlach _her dear companions_ before her. Somehow he could also sense Seomara was following the swordsman, while Carnelia was possessing Tarlach. The two spell casters ending up linked was to be expected, but the only things Seomara and Ruiari seemed to have in common was red hair. Then again he wasn't great at seeing people's 'secret depths' or whatever.

"So this is it. Tir Na Nog," Ruairi said. "Doesn't really look like paradise."

Tarlach shrugged. "I know the goddess is here. With her aid we should be able to bring Tir Na Nog to Erinn. And this is where the Fomors are organizing from. We need to reach the bottom and confront the master of this place to end their threat."

"Alright!" Mari pumped her fist. "Then let's go!"

The trio delved into the dungeon. To Blurpleberry's surprise it didn't look too much tougher than Fidoh. The walls and designs all screamed that this was an important structure, but the monsters were mostly rat men, spiky spiders (laghodessa Tarlach said) and trained goblins. The three experienced adventurers cut through them like a hot knife through butter. In fact Ruairi made a few snarky remarks atMari when the young archer shot foes before he could engage them in melee _not like it was a contest or anything_.

As the trio delved deeper it became more dangerous. Armored skeletons and animated armors barred the path. But the master adventurers still pressed on through the enemies without too much trouble.

Everything seemed to be going perfectly until they reached the door bearing the distinct lock reserved for the lords of a dungeon. As the trio ran into the room a dark shadow moved from the other side. The three froze as an imposing figure in black armor with a horned helmet stepped to meet them. The dark lord pulled out a large two handed sword. "Foolish humans, your struggles end here."

Blurpleberry instinctively tried to press forward, but this wasn't his body, or his memory. Instead Mari hesitated while Ruairi charged and Tarlach began summoning his magic. Ruairi brought his sword down just as Tarlach fired off a bolt of thunder.

The dark knight didn't even seem to care. He lifted his left hand and instantly conjured a mystic shield to block Tarlach's lightning bolt, while smacking Ruairi in the face with his pommel. The two men's attacks didn't even leave a scratch.

As the armored man raised his sword to cut down Ruairi, Mari sprang into action, _she had to stop him_. The small archer put arrow to string and let fly. The knight changed his strike to try to cut down the arrow, but that was beyond even the knight's skill. He grunted as the shaft struck his leg.

"Ruairi, keep him from attacking Mari!" Tarlach yelled as he fired off another bolt. Ruairi responded by pressing his own attack and getting a slice across the ribs for his troubles.

_I have to save them! _Blurpleberry could feel Mari's desperation as she fired off one arrow, then another as the black mailed figure attempted to advance. Ruairi and Tarlach couldn't harm the man, but their attacks did slow him down. Still he was skilled at avoiding arrows, and his armor was obviously protecting him from the worst of the onslaught. Blood flowed from a shoulder pauldron that had split, and he was limping from the arrow in his calf. But the man pressed on.

The dark knight lurched forward _Got to run_, when Tarlach slammed his staff into the man's side. The attack clattered off the dark breastplate, but it ruined the knight's swing. Mari took a deep breath, drew back a shot, and planted an arrow in the knight's right chest. _Victory._

"Augh-!" The knight fell to his knees. "How is this possible?"

"Let's end this!" Ruairi moved forward to deliver the coup de grace, but the knight somehow had enough power to roll backwards towards the locked door.

"It seems I underestimated you," the figure said. "But it doesn't matter." The armored man chuckled. "Allow me to tell you your futures. One of you will lose everything, one of you will find what you seek and be destroyed by it, and one of you will live in suffering forever."

The man slipped through the doors before stating anything else. The three adventurers chased after him.

Strangely there was no sign of the man in the room. The only thing there was bones hanging from the ceiling and a small chest. Mari and Ruairi looked around while Tarlach moved to open the box. Blurpleberry wished the small archer had been more curious, but he did manage to see Tarlach take out a book.

"So you defile this place with your presence as well humans?" Blurpleberry felt dizzy as the trio whirled to see a grey bearded man in a Druid robe walk into the room. At his side was the dark warrior they'd fought before, healed of all wounds. "It seems we'll have to exterminate you."

"Mari be careful," Tarlach cried as he moved up to her side. Ruairi moved to stand between the two groups.

"Mari?!" The druid's face paled. _How does he know me? _"Knock them out," he ordered the armored figure. "I want them alive."

Spinning lights formed and a woman in white with black wings appeared between the two groups. Her eyes were shut tight, and chains of gold linked her hands, but she still emanated power. Mari gasped and Blurpleberry had to admit he was pretty surprised as well. He thought the goddess Morrighan was sealed away.

The goddess gestured lightly with one of her chained hands. "What are you doing Mores? These humans have come and desecrated my holy realm. If we wish to create the world of light they must be destroyed. Kill them."

The druid shook his head. "Wait Morrighan! That is my-"

Mores never finished his sentence. "As you command," the dark lord said. The man raised his sword and power began to flow from the goddess to him. Blurpleberry felt Mari draw an arrow, and saw Ruairi rushing forward, but there was a massive explosion. _It hurts._

When his vision cleared he was no longer possessing a memory. Instead he found himself looking down as the succubus Kristell nursed Tarlach back to health. Of the others there was no sign.

The haziness faded away and then they were all back in their normal bodies and minds, standing on the altar of Math dungeon. Carnelia was hugging herself and grimacing at the vision. Seomara on the other hand seemed utterly devastated by the memory. The young woman stared straight ahead, tears running down her cheeks. "It… it makes no sense. Why…?"

Blurpleberry reached down and gripped the hilts of his blades. "I don't get it. But we can't just let that Glas Ghaibhleann out. It looks like we'll need to get stronger." After all, they needed to kill a god. That would probably take a bit of effort.


	16. Chapter 16

Seomara saw a vision of the goddess before her. "Seomara. The Fomors have almost finished their work. I'm losing control. You must hurry."

She tried to reach out, but the veil of sleep kept her from moving. "Why? Why did you betray them? What is the point of this quest?!" she cried out.

"Seomara!"

Light flooded her vision as she opened her eyes. She blinked rapidly, and found herself looking at Nao. The silver haired woman looked at her with furrowed brows. "Are you alright? Did I accidently take you away from something?"

Seomara slowly shook her head as she recovered her bearings. "I think it was just the end of a nightmare. Or maybe a vision?" She looked up at the concerned woman then back down at her feet. "I… What's happening? We saw the goddess betraying Tarlach and the others. Why is that same goddess asking us for help?"

She felt the ethereal guardian's hand rest on her shoulder. "I can't explain Seomara. Not yet. But please believe me." Seomara looked up directly into Nao's eyes. She saw sorrow, loneliness and pain, but also a deep determination. "The Goddess wants all people on Erinn to be happy. She doesn't seek the destruction of humans."

Seomara wanted to believe the woman desperately. But she couldn't just dismiss the vision she saw. "I… I just don't understand. I thought this would give us the answers, but there's still something missing. Can you at least point us along the way?"

Nao blinked, then frowned in thought. "I might be able to help you Seomara. You three have gotten the furthest." She thought for a moment, then smiled sadly. "Try finding an object from Mores. That should give you the final piece of the puzzle."

Seomara nodded. "Right." She felt the weight start to lift from her shoulder. She had a mission to accomplish. "Thank you Nao."

"No, thank you, Seomara." Nao smiled happily as she pulled a small pouch out of her dress. "A small gift for you. These crystals will allow me to help bring you back from death using the Soul Stream. Give some to your friends as well. With these you can keep up the fight even if you suffer a mishap."

Seomara carefully accepted the items. "These will really help. I'm in your debt."

"Good luck, Seomara."

* * *

Seomara opened her eyes to find herself on one of the benches in Dunbarton. Standing up she placed the crystals Nao had given her into her potion pack, then began looking around the town.

After taking a few side streets, Seomara saw the familiar cart filled with books. A mousy teenage girl with brown hair, a pink high necked dress and a green stole stood next to it, alternating between looking around for customers, cleaning her glasses, and reading her own merchandise. As Seomara walked over the girl smiled and waved. "Ah, hello. Have we met before?"

"Just in passing Aeira," Seomara said. Admittedly she'd visited the bookstore fairly frequently, but given the time difference between the two, and the number of customers the woman undoubtedly met on a regular basis, she didn't expect to be recognized. "I was wondering if you'd gotten in any new poetry books."

Aeira sighed. "No. I've still got too many composing books sitting around from the big boom." The bookstore owner shook her head. "Anything else I might be able to help with?"

"Yeah. Do you know where I might find any books or items that the druid Mores might have owned?" Seomara asked carefully. "I know you see a lot of rare books and other objects of interest, so I figured I'd ask you first."

"Well Mores wrote a lot of the most commonly used books on magic these days," Aeira said. "But I doubt you'd want something that simple." The young woman considered things for a bit. "There might be something at the lost and found, but that would probably be just junk or small personal effects. Anything of interest would have been claimed by the Royal Library."

Seomara considered that. One person's junk might be another person's heirloom. "Would the lost and found give me an object that belonged to someone else?"

"Actually they will. Items from adventurers can be used to view their dungeon experiences, so people are allowed to purchase them in order to investigate dungeons before attempting to run it themselves. However, you can only ask for an item after the original owner has been confirmed dead," Aeira said. "That shouldn't be a problem though since the court has declared Mores deceased. You'll have to pay though."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Any small object not worth stealing for the royal museums wouldn't be too expensive Seomara figured. "Thanks Aeira."

"No problem. Hopefully I'll have some more poetry when you come back," the young woman said with a wave.

Seomara headed back to the main square, where merchants of all sorts were hawking their wares. There, in the corner, behind a really poorly placed sign, sat a woman in a business dress scribbling on a rather thick set of papers. Seomara approached the woman, than coughed after a few minutes of waiting.

"Ah sorry!" The blonde woman turned a dazzling smile at her. "What can I help you with?"

"I was wondering if you had any lost objects that belonged to the druid Mores?" Seomara asked. "I was interested in researching him."

The woman pursed her lips and opened up a large ledger. "I think most of the items were taken by the Royal Library. Let me double check though…." Seomara shifted back and forth on her feet as the woman searched.

Finally the blonde woman nodded. "Ah we still have one piece, though it's not that great." She turned around and opened a small locker, retrieving half a torc from it. "This is the only item of Mores we still own. It's broken as you can see, so we don't know if it will function as a memory pass. If you still want it, it will cost two hundred gold."

"Sold," Seomara said, pulling out the required cash.

The woman counted it neatly, then handed over the torc half. "Here you go. I hope it works for you."

"Me too," Seomara said as she headed out.

She considered heading out immediately to a dungeon to try it out, but using it in the wrong dungeon might lead to wasting the memory. Instead she wandered over to the mailbox. She carefully scrawled out two messages to meet up in a day then sent them, to Blurpleberry and Carnelia. The three had split up in the aftermath of that disastrous look into Tarlach's memories in order to recover their strength, both physical and mental.

As the owls flew out she sighed. "Now what?"

She briefly considered heading to the bigger cities to see what missions the kingdom was sending people on, but she tossed that aside. Another obligation, even short term, was something she wanted to avoid.

Her eyes turned back towards the trading post. A bit of travel would be nice. And maybe at Tir Chonial she could meet up with Ysolte; or if that failed work on her cooking. Stretching she began walking towards the post.

The long journey was generally uneventful. The rolling hills of Dougald Aisle were surprisingly free of bandit issues. On her arrival she happily accepted the small reward for shipping the goods, than wandered into the village proper to look for her friend.

The sun was high in the sky when she arrived at the village center. She looked around for a bit, but unfortunately Ysolte didn't seem to be there. Shrugging she began to head towards the bakery.

As she did a white owl swooped down towards her. She instinctively reached up to catch the scroll it dropped, then unfolded it. She'd been expecting a message from Carnelia or Blurpleberry. This one however was in a different hand.

_"I hear from my friend Aeira in Dunbarton that you've been looking for items related to Mores. I've also heard from Tarlach and Nao that I should help you with anything you might need. I have an item connected to Mores that may help you. Please drop by when you have the chance._

Duncan."

Seomara folded the letter up. Duncan was an odd man, one of the few Tuatha De Danann who could communicate with Nao on any level. In addition he was the head of Tir Chonial. It was quite likely if he held something related to Mores it was more relevant then the broken torc she held.

Shrugging, she headed up the steps to the headman's cottage. Even if her assumption was wrong, it wasn't like this would take long.

Duncan gave her a refined nod as she approached him. "Welcome. I wasn't expecting you so soon, but I'm glad to see you got my missive."

Seomara smiled. "I'm glad to see you remember me too. It has to be hard with all the Milletians wandering about."

The elder stroked his short beard. "Having a good mind for names and faces is important for someone in my position. And you don't change your appearance as often as some." The old man beckoned her closer and continued in a softer voice. "In any case, I have a story to give you along with this."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out half a torc. Seomara gasped and pulled out her own half. The two were an obvious match. It was an almost unbelievable stroke of luck.

"A number of years ago two white deer came to me, bearing a small child and this torc on a hammock," Duncan said. "I recognized the torc of course. Mores and I knew each other well. I believe his wife Shiela used her magic to save her daughter from the fires on that tragic day. I took the child in and claimed she had been orphaned earlier in the war to help keep her safe. You know her as Mari."

He sighed deeply. "I wish I could have pressured the King Ethur more to hunt down those responsible, but I have little power in the kingdom. And before the Milletians came Tir Chonial had little importance." Duncan handed over the torc. "Take this. Hopefully you can find the truth of that horrible time with it."

Seomara took the torc and paired it with the other. "Thank you Duncan. I think this might help a lot."


	17. Chapter 17

"These viewing parties are getting repetitive," Blurpleberry groused. "When do we get to fight a real opponent? Or at least an opponent who drops gold?"

Seomara could sympathize with the issue somewhat. "Hopefully soon. I'm not sure how many more twists and turns our path can have."

Carnelia nodded. "I'm not that interested in fighting or riches, but we need to stop the revival of Glas Ghaibhleann soon."

"I guess we have no choice then." Blurpleberry sighed. "Are you sure Math is the best dungeon to use these on though?"

"This is where we saw Tarlach's encounter with Mores," Carnelia said. "It's also the dungeon where Mores' half of the torc was found. I can't think of any other dungeon where there's any connection at all."

Seomara nodded. "Carnelia's logic seems sound. And I can't think of anything better."

"Alright." Blurpleberry stepped on the altar. "Let's get on with it."

Seomara looked at Carnelia. "Whenever you're ready."

Carnelia closed her eyes, then held up the partly reforged torc. "Three, two, one, go."

The room swirled around Seomara. Slowly she began to see the dungeon form around her but strangely she didn't feel a body. Instead she just felt a coldness.

In front of her she saw Moresstanding before the dungeon door. It looked like he had gone without sleep for several days. She could also tell Carnelia was following that memory. "I have to keep pressing on. I have to get back to my family. There's got to be an escape from this maze."

Seomara gasped as her nerves seemed to freeze. "Mores. I'm right here. Can't you see me? Please answer me dearest." She reached out a pale transparent hand, but the druid didn't see her. He merely gathered himself up and walked forward.

When Seomara started following Mores with silent steps the truth hit her. This was Sheila's ghost!

Sheila silently followed Mores as the druid worked his way through the dungeon. The master druid was tired and haggard, but he still managed to toss off fireballs that utterly destroyed entire rooms worth of Fomors.

Still the twisting turns of the dungeon seemed endless. Seomara began to worry the many small wounds the enemies here gave him would eventually cause Mores to fall. _I won't let you die here, my love. _Sheila raised her hands. Power flowed from the ghost into the master druid, slowly closing the man's wounds.

Seomara felt drained as Mores and Sheila moved on. For the ghost to affect the real world with her magic was an incredible feat. Yet Mores didn't even seem to notice. Perhaps the constant battles left him too tired to notice the subtle spells his wife was using.

Time seemed to stretch and blur. Room after room of foes faced them. The monsters got stronger and stronger. And then, everything stopped.

"Mores, why do you fight us?"

A figure in black armor appeared before the druid, hands held to signify parley. "Mores, so many Fomors have lost their life to bring you to us. Why do you disparage their sacrifice?"

Mores raised his wand. "What are you talking about Fomor?"

"The humans have abandoned you. Betrayed you." The dark knight gestured around the dungeon. "While you were stuck here they made sure you would not be able to return. Behold."

The armored man raised his hand and a scene appeared before him. A house on fire, cloaked soldiers milling about, a woman's high scream. Sheila shivered in remembered pain at the sight. This was the night when she had died.

Mores fell to his knees. "No! No! It can't be…" The druid wiped his eyes and shakily stood. "You're lying!"

Light swirled in the room and a shining figure in white with black wings appeared next to the dark knight. Morrighan clasped her hands together. "It's true, Mores. The humans have turned against the way of nature and the gods. I regret my sacrifice for them. They are unworthy of paradise." She motioned the druid closer. "Please, join us Mores and help me gain my revenge on the selfish humans."

Mores was crying now, staggering unsteadily. Sheila reached to steady him, but her ethereal hands passed through him. "I… I… What must I do?"

"Mores, no!" Seomara felt her insides twist as Sheila tried to catch the druid again. "Please. You can't let them trick you into this! That can't be the goddess…"

Seomara felt like she was in freefall as her vision warped, then cleared. Where the black winged goddess had stood was now a black cloaked figure with white wings. Shadows concealed everything about the terrible figure. _I know you! Don't listen to him Mores!_

The walls of Math snapped back around her and she collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. Her stomach heaved but she held it in.

"Seomara!" Two pairs of hands helped lift her back up to her feet.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." She took in a long ragged breath. "It's just the memories of a ghost are a little weird."

"A ghost?" Blurpleberry frowned. "I didn't see a ghost. I just saw a lot of Mores fireballing everything."

"I didn't notice the ghost either, but I was in Mores' body," Carnelia said. She frowned deeply. "And unfortunately I didn't notice anything that could help us."

"Didn't you see?" Seomara looked back and forth between the two. "It was Cichol, god of the Fomors! That 'Goddess' is an illusion!"

The two blinked at her. Then Carnelia rubbed her forehead. "Of course! I'm a fool. Such a simple illusion would be nothing to a god. They must have needed that to help control Mores. And they need Mores because their best wizards were killed by him during the war."

"Well that explains the why, but what does it change for us?" Blurpleberry said. "We still need to get to Tir Na Nog and kill a god."

"Yes, but I imagine Tarlach might be a little more eager to help us when he finds out how he was duped and betrayed," Carnelia said.

Seomara shook her arms to try to recover her equilibrium. "And it means the real goddess Morrighan might be able to give us a hand if we find and free her."

Blurpleberry summoned his mount. "Then we should get moving. It's a little past midnight and I don't think bear Tarlach will be all that chatty."

The two women nodded in agreement. "Right!"

* * *

Tarlach's jaw fell open at the revelation. He stood there stunned, breath fogging in the snowy air. "Cichol. How could we have been so blind?"

Seomara blinked as the druid looked up at them. For the first time she saw the burning drive that had led the young man to search for Tir Na Nog in the first place. "Please you three. I can't leave this place, but I can give you the spells to help break the seal between worlds. Please go save the goddess and stop Mores from summoning Glas Ghaibhleann."

"Where can we find the seal?" Carnelia asked. "And what will we find on the other side?"

"Barri dungeon," Tarlach said. "Kristell can give you the passes needed. As for what you'll find there…" The druid frowned. "That is something you should see for yourself. The Fomor mostly inhabit the dungeons still though. You'll know where to find them when you get there."

Seomara raised an eyebrow as Carnelia turned towards Blurpleberry and her. "Will you two be alright with the spell?"

"Shouldn't be a problem unless it's too difficult," Seomara said. "I know the basic bolt spells, as well as meditation and mana shield. I just didn't study them much."

Blurpleberry nodded. "I'm pretty good with a firebolt. Helps kill flying creatures."

"In that case, I'll begin showing you the spell," Tarlach said. "It was easy enough for Ruairi to learn so I don't think you all will have any trouble…."

Tarlach's words were right on. Seomara wasn't the best about feeling the flow and ebb of mana, but the technique Tarlach taught them was more of a mental 'push' for lack of a better term. Honestly channeling mana into an elemental form was much more difficult.

When they finished the exercise to the druid's satisfaction, dawn was coming. "One more thing," Tarlach said. "The gate can only be opened on Samhain."

Seomara thought for a bit. "So two days from now?"

"That's right," Carnelia confirmed.

Blurpleberry shrugged. "Well we'll have time to run some dungeons and get gear together then. I bet there won't be a weapons shop on the other side, so we'll want everything to be repaired."

"We'll also want enough potions and other supplies," Carnelia said. "I can make some spares, but you two should stock up."

Seomara nodded. She thought she had most of what she needed, but it was a good idea to take a little more as well. "We meet up at the Dunbarton church on Samhain then?"

"Sounds good," Blurpleberry turned to hurry off.

"Wait." Tarlach held up a hand. He hesitated for a moment, his face twisting from various emotions. Then he said, "If you can, please save Mores. He was a good man, and a good teacher."

"We'll do what we can," Carnelia replied softly.

Seomara frowned. She understood the request somewhat. Mores had been betrayed, by many people in fact. On the other hand she wasn't sure about taking the risk to help someone who was planning on unleashing a giant titan of death on people.

She shrugged and let the matter drop. That was planning a little too far ahead anyway. First they had to get to Tir Na Nog and free the Goddess.


	18. Chapter 18

Turning she summoned her horse and hopped on while Carnelia did the same. As the two rode together Carnelia asked, "Is there anything I can help you with preparation wise? How's your potion crafting skill?"

'Not great, but I have a lot of spares from earlier when Manus was giving them away." Seomara smiled. "I should be fine. My equipment isn't that expensive, and I've got plenty of supplies stocked. You should handle your own preparations anyway. Finding someone to repair magical wands and control bars has got to be hard."

Carnelia laughed weakly. "It can get a little troublesome yes." She patted her travel bag. "Fortunately I have plenty of funds to work with. And the moongates make things much easier."

As the two finished traversing the road to Tir Chonial, Carnelia paused. "So what are your plans? Going to go treasure hunting like Blurpleberry?"

Seomara thought for a moment, before a flash of blue hair caught her eye. She nodded to herself. "I'm going to spend some time with a friend."

Carnelia followed Seomara's gaze and giggled. "Ah. Trying to avoid Tarlach's mistake?"

Seomara whirled on the older woman. "It's not like that! Probably! Anyway don't say that around her, it'd be weird."

Carnelia stuck her tongue out. "Fine fine. I'll see you in a couple of days. Have fun." The mage waved then spurred her horse into a canter, heading towards the road out of town.

Seomara waited until her friend had moved on before unsummoning her own horse and heading over towards the familiar figure who was currently leaving the bank. "Heya Ysolte."

"Ah! Seomara!" Ysolte started in surprise then smiled brightly before her usual frown took over. "How have you been doing?"

"I've been busy, but I'm doing okay," Seomara replied. "Do you have any free time?"

Ysolte thought for a moment. "Hm… I had some plans, but nothing solid. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm going out for a while," Seomara hesitated. "I don't know for how long in fact. So I wanted to spend some time together before then."

Ysolte's frown deepened. "You're doing something dangerous aren't you?"

Seomara rubbed the back of her head. "Kinda…"

The blue haired woman started walking down the street, gesturing Seomara to follow. "Wanna tell me exactly what?"

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain it all quickly, but the short version is we're going to Tir Na Nog to rescue the goddess Morrighan and stop a giant monster from being revived." Ysolte stopped and looked at her with narrowed eyes. Seomara did her level best to look serious under the other woman's glare. "Yeah I know. But it's the truth."

Ysolte glared for a little longer then sighed and shook her head. "Alright. It sounds stupid, but maybe it explains why you Milletians keep appearing around here."

"Maybe," Seomara said. "Though it feels weird being considered a destined one or something."

"Heh." A smirk crept onto Ysolte's face. The blue haired woman seemed to think for a moment, then said, "So when do you need to leave?"

"Two days. Er, two days my time." Seomara said. "I still don't quite figure out how the whole time thing works."

Ysolte nodded. "Okay then. Well we seem to have the same time when we're together, so how about this." She pointed at Seomara. "You show me around your homestead."

"Huh?" Seomara stared at the other woman. She felt her cheeks heat up a bit. "Um, my homestead's pretty boring. Why do you want to see it anyway? It just looks like a small poorly built farm."

"I just want to see it." Ysolte crossed her arms and looked away. "It's unique you know. You Milletians can just teleport off to a special farm. I want to see what one looks like."

Seomara shrugged. She couldn't really argue with that. "Alright. Well at least we can come back instantly when you get bored." She held out her hand. "Do you want to go now?"

"Of course!" Ysolte grabbed Seomara's hand. "Is there something I need to do or…?"

"No. There might be a little disorientation though," Seomara said as she closed her eyes and shifted.

Suddenly the green fields of Tir Chonial were gone, and the snow of Physis was all around them. Her homestead was a little above the snowbanks themselves, but there were still two or three inches over the area, barring the small fields she occasionally planted winter crops in.

"Aaaaah!" Seomara flinched away from Ysolte as the woman yelped. "What the hell? It's freezing!"

Seomara waved her hand in the air. "Yeah I suppose it is a little cold." She hunched a bit when she realized her mistake. "Oh yeah, I should have warned you we were going to Physis."

"A little cold!" Ysolte shouted as she started rubbing her arms. "This isn't a little cold! This is worse then any winter in Udlah!" Ysolte's eyes wandered over Seomara's outfit and then glared up at her. Seomara took another step back as the woman said, "Don't tell me you Milletians are immune to cold too."

"Um, I dunno. I mean, I've never seen anyone but the giants and Tarlach out in the snow so I can't really say what's normal and what isn't." Seomara noticed Ysolte was starting to shiver and her embarrassment turned to a frown. "Uh, why don't we head inside for now? It should be much warmer in there."

"R-r-right." Ysolte hurried after her as she headed towards the large cottage to the side of the homestead. As Seomara opened the door the wave of heat leaked out from the open hearth sitting opposite. She ushered Ysolte in then walked in herself before shutting the heavy door behind her. With the door shut the warmth of the fire quickly took command of the room again. It was still a little cooler then the fields of Tir Chonial had been, but warmer than the outside by a fair amount.

Seomara walked over to the fireplace and sat next to Ysolte. The young Tuatha da Dannen had acquired one of the furs that covered the floor and was using it as a makeshift robe. Seomara carefully checked the other woman, but other than being a little more blue then normal it seemed Ysolte was doing fine. "I'm really sorry. I didn't realize it would be so bad for you."

Ysolte looked over at her with an icy glare. "I can't believe you don't feel cold. That flimsy overdress can't help you much at all."

Seomara looked down at her green bohemian dress. It was a long sleeved dress, but the outer layer was a bit flimsy she had to admit. The torso and lower knee skirt was a lot heavier. She looked back at Ysolte. "True. Still it is twice as long as your skirt, and doesn't have quite as deep a neck line…."

Ysolte growled and whacked her with the fur. "Idiot." Seomara relaxed a little at that. Obviously Ysolte had recovered. The blue haired woman turned away to take an inventory of the cottage, and Seomara found herself following Ysolte's gaze.

The building was mostly a single room, though the size made its areas well delaminated. The hearth was the central fixture, a four foot wide blaze behind a fire grate. In front of the fire was a simple living space, with a set of furs and low tables.

To the right was a higher counter with a water barrel and several supply closets. A thick wall allowed a third set of cabinets to be added, while still leaving room for a screened off privy. Fortunately the homestead was over a subterranean river, so plumbing wasn't an issue.

On the left a massive bed was nestled into the corner, a full ten feet long and six feet wide. Behind another mobile wooden screen a massive tub sat, along with a similarly tall mirror.

"This was originally designed for Giants wasn't it?" Ysolte asked.

"Yeah. It is Physis after all," Seomara said. "I got the tables and chairs properly sized, but they didn't have a human sized bed around when I ordered it, and the extra big bath seemed like a bonus to me."

Ysolte looked over at her. "Do you even use this house? I know you don't need to sleep, and even if you do get hungry you can just run on to the next restaurant. Every time I've seen you, you've been running to or from somewhere."

"Uh..." Seomara thought about it for a moment. "I use it when I want to be somewhere without blocking traffic. Like when I'm waiting for a shop to open or for a part time job."

Ysolte's eyes narrowed. "So you don't use it."

"Er, I guess not often." Seomara coughed.

"I take back any sympathy I had for you Milletians." Ysolte huffed as she crossed her arms. "You have a house like this you can just teleport to at any time? Ridiculous."

Seomara laughed lightly. "I guess it is kinda unfair." She tried to think of a different subject. "So what about your house Ysolte? I don't think I know where you live. We've always met while you've been trading or something."

Ysolte blinked and blushed lightly. Turning away she said, "Well my family has a house on the Blago Prairie actually."

Seomara nodded and took a guess. Ysolte had contacts all throughout the castle, and plenty of free time. In addition she'd had enough money to start out trading and cover Cecilia as well. "Baroness?"

"Viscountess." The blue haired woman wrapped the furs tighter around her to try to hide her blush.

"Heh, well it is kinda obvious after a while," Seomara replied lightly. A thought struck her and she turned to Ysolte. "Ah if this is a secret or something I totally won't say anything! Or, uh, should I know your family or..." Seomara rubbed the back of her neck. She had no real idea about the nobility of Erinn other then they existed.

"No it's fine. Don't worry about it." Ysolte shook her head beneath the fur.

Seomara looked back at the fire as the two recovered their composure.

When Ysolte relaxed enough that the fur was only around her shoulders Seomara said, "Do you want me to point out the rest of the place through the windows? It's probably a little warmer now that the sun's been up for a bit, but I'd give it another hour before going out."

"Hmph. I suppose that'll have to do for now." Ysolte muttered. "Next time I'll know to bring a coat."

"Sorry. It just never crossed my mind." Seomara stood then waved her friend over to the front window.

Ysolte stood and walked over before leaning in next to Seomara. "Alright. I see the plots of farmland and the herb gardens. What do you do with the herbs anyway?"

"Make potions," Seomara said. "I'm kinda lazy about it, and I'm pretty bad at potion making. But it's still better then what's in the stores so I keep the herb gardens around."

"Suppose that's a good idea. Though you seem to be mediocre at a lot of things," Ysolte remarked. The blue haired woman frowned and pointed at the mound of loose earth and odd blue stones. "What's that?"

"It's a quarry, sort of." Seomara pointed at a blue stone. "Those little stones apparently are great for making stone tools. But no one really wants stone tools outside of a few furniture makers and farmers in Iria. So they barter with us Milletians for the tools. That's how we get these fancy setups."

"I see." Seomara looked over to see Ysolte rubbing her chin. "If you Milletians worked together you might be able to set up better trade arrangements you know."

"That involves way too many Milletians working together," Seomara muttered. "Some Milletians are just weird."

"Ah so you have no idea what 'Want H/E wif pls add' means either do you," Ysolte remarked.

Seomara shook her head. "I think I might. But I refuse to admit that's real communication."

"Fair enough." Ysolte turned towards the other two structures. "So, the well I understand. Why is there an ice slick with a hole in it though?"

A smile grew on Seomara's face. "Ah! That's easy to explain." She turned around and walked back towards the kitchen. "It's the ice fishing hole," she said, flipping open the cabinet to reveal a number of salted smelt. "I've got more fish in an ice chest out back. It's great."

Ysolte raised an eyebrow. "That is impressive. Are the fish you catch any different?"

"Yeah!" Seomara's smile widened. "It's the only place you can grab sturgeon that isn't owned by a fishery. There's the smelt of course. And best of all lamprey!"

"Lamprey? Ugh." Ysolte stuck her tongue out in disgust. "What would you want with a horrible fish like that? Those things are disgusting."

Seomara winced. "Yeah they are kinda ugly. And disturbing. But they grill up real nice, trust me. Especially with barbeque sauce." She licked her lips just thinking about it.

"Jawless bloodsucking fish doesn't seem like my thing, thanks." The blue haired woman rolled her eyes. "Still it does seem like a nice thing to have."

"Yeah." Seomara hesitated for a bit. She really didn't have any idea what to do now. "Hey, how long did you want to stay here Ysolte?"

The other woman froze, then looked back out the window. "Well, you're going to be out for who knows how long so... I was going to stay the night."

Seomara choked. Stay the night? "Ah- guh- um-"

There was a resounding thud as Ysolte stomped her foot. "You weren't thinking of anything strange were you, my dear friend Seomara!"

"Nope. No. No no no no, not at all." Seomara put her hands behind her back and stared at the ceiling. "Um, I was just worried because... there isn't much to do! That's all."

The blue haired woman tapped her foot ominously for a bit, then sighed. "I suppose that's true." She looked outside for a bit with her customary frown. "I suppose we could fish. With a chair and another one of these furs I shouldn't be too cold."

Seomara relaxed and smiled again. "That sounds great." She moved to grab two chairs. "I'll set these up while you grab what you need to keep warm."

"Right." Ysolte moved to find a few furs that would allow her to cover herself well while still allowing her to move.

Getting the chairs out was fairly easy once she resigned herself to putting them down before opening the door. In addition the snow around the fishing pool was a little higher, allowing her to set the chairs into the bank. She counted herself lucky as she headed over to the icebox for fishing poles and bait.

When she came back she found Ysolte had managed to bundle herself up against the cold well, though her giant snowfield bear cape was utterly ridiculous. Still better to look foolish then freeze to death. She sat down next to her friend and handed over one of the fishing rods, putting the bait tin between the two chairs. "Here you go." Ysolte sniffed at the cheap rod, but went about weighting and baiting the line. "You seem to know the drill well for someone who just started ice fishing," Seomara said as she set up her own line.

The other woman shrugged. "Well it was kinda obvious we can't just cast it into the deep water." Ysolte dropped her hook into the water with a plop and rested back in her chair.

Seomara nodded and followed suit, doing her best to make sure the two lines didn't cross. This was probably a bad way to fish, but she wasn't that interested in catching anything, and she imagined Ysolte probably was just wasting time as well.

As she leaned back in her chair a warm heavy weight fell around her shoulders. Ysolte reached across her chest and finished pulled the large bearskin around the two of them. Seomara looked down at the shorter woman to find her blushing. "Seeing you sitting in the snow with just that dress on makes me feel colder," Ysolte snapped.

It took Seomara a bit to find her voice, but she finally managed to mutter. "I'm fine with it." She let her pole rest on a nearby rock. There was no way they were catching anything now, but she couldn't say she minded. Ysolte shifted her chair a little closer and rested her head on Seomara's shoulder.

As the two sat there together Seomara couldn't help but notice Ysolte's breathing. Even through the fur's the young fighter was wearing for warmth, the rise and fall of her chest was obvious. The warmth of the bearskin seemed like nothing compared to the heat from the other woman's body, and the burning blush in her cheeks. She wanted to shake her head to clear it, but that would force her friend to move, and she wasn't going to give that up for anything right now.

She tried to focus instead on the snow covered hills that surrounded her homestead. Noon was approaching and the hills were a beautiful mottled white. She wasn't sure why Physis snow didn't reflect the light as painfully as other places did, but she was glad for it.

Still the landscape was kind of barren. "I should get some evergreens at some point," she said lightly. "It would make the place look a little less bleak."

Ysolte nodded slightly. "Yeah. Though you should leave one side open. The view is beautiful in its own way."

Seomara thought for a moment. "The east side then." She smiled slightly. "You have to see the moon rise."

"Hm... If it doesn't get too cold," Ysolte said shifting slightly.

The two lapsed back into a comfortable silence, watching the clouds roll through the crisp air.

Eventually though Seomara's stomach began to remind her it had certain needs. She tried to ignore it, both to avoid moving Ysolte and avoid leaving her seat, but eventually she found herself thinking more about food than anything else. She grimaced and shifted, stuck between wanting to move and wanting to stay.

Ysolte sighed and shifted as well. "You'll probably need to feed the fire, right? I don't want to come back to a freezing cottage."

"It uses flame crystals actually so that's not an issue," Seomara said. "But I'm hungry and I bet you are too."

"Hmph," Ysolte sniffed, but she sat up on her own chair, leaving the cold air to move in where she'd been lying.

Seomara sighed and carefully disentangled herself from the bear skin. After all there was no reason to stay put now. "I have some hot chocolate. Want that or the Vales Whiskey?"

That brought a glance of surprise from Ysolte. "The chocolate please. It's still lunch. Besides the cold might convince me to drink the entire bottle of Whiskey."

"Right. I'll grab that and the smelt then," Seomara said as she headed towards the house.

Once she got inside she hurried over to the cabinets and pulled out the ingredients she needed for the hot chocolate. Mixing them together took a little more time, as she'd learned to pay very close attention to the proportions, but she had it on the hearth heating within a few minutes. After that was done she headed over to the closet that held the salted smelt, and hacked off the heads and tails. She considered heating those too, but it was best at room temperatures and probably wouldn't be out long enough to get seriously chilled. Instead she grabbed two sealed flasks for the chocolate and a pouch to hold the whole set in. She didn't want to drop any of it after all.

After a few minutes she felt the chocolate was sufficiently hot and poured it into the flasks. Smiling to herself she tossed the whole set into the pouch and headed towards the door.

A shout from the other side of the door caused her to dash outside. "What's happening?" she yelled as she turned towards her friend.

Ysolte had tossed off her bear cloak and grabbed one of the rods, but the other furs she had wrapped around her for warmth were keeping her from reeling it in properly. "What does it look like idiot?!"

Seomara ran over and grabbed the rod, doing her best to control the fish on the other end. Fortunately the catch didn't seem to be struggling as hard as it normally did. She worked on reeling the fish in, while Ysolte moved to anchor the line. A few minutes later the splashing fish breached the surface. The reason the fish was too weak to break the line quickly became obvious as well, as an attached lamprey thrashed on its side.

Seomara let Ysotle hold the rod as she reached out to grab the prize. It wasn't pretty, but a couple of knife stabs ended both fish's struggles. She separated the two and tossed the lamprey into a nearby snowdrift, then dumped the bloody smelt into the bait bin. "Nice work!" she said to Ysolte. "Now dinner will be fresh."

The blue haired woman frowned at her while putting down the fishing pole. "That still doesn't look edible."

"Don't worry. It won't look anything like that when it's done cooking," Seomara stated. Which was a good thing. Even she lost her appetite looking at the strange fish for too long. On that note she decided to kick some snow over the lamprey's head.

"I hope you've got a big lunch ready," Ysolte simply said.

Seomara frowned and pulled out the pouch she'd placed the meal in. "You'll see. I've been practicing."


	19. Chapter 19

The afternoon passed quickly without much more incident after lunch. They sat close together, but it didn't have the same feel as it did in the morning. Still that might be good as well, Seomara reflected. The two had taken a few more breaks to stretch their legs and handle other necessities, which meant neither of them was too stiff.

Finally the sun sank beneath the horizon. Seomara wordlessly reeled in the other line then shifted the chairs slightly to look to the east. Eweca, one of the two moons was starting to creep into the sky, but the evening clouds hid its form behind orange and pink masses.

Ysolte shivered as the wind picked up. Seomara hesitated, then put an arm around the other woman to help stave off the cold. Ysolte said nothing, but reached out and hugged Seomara's waist close.

As the darkness fell, the clouds started to part in the wind. Eweca sat in a hollow in the sky, the clouds around it a glowing halo. On the hills below the glow of the moon poured forth, turning the white snow silver.

Ysolte smiled. "It really is beautiful."

"Yeah," Seomara manged to reply.

They stared at the tableau for a little bit longer before Ysolte shivered again. Seomara slowly disentangled herself, then stood. "We should get back inside. It'll probably start getting too cold for me soon."

"Yeah." Ysolte's smile lingered for a moment, then the woman sighed and stood. "I'll head in then. You'll probably want to bring in the chairs yourself."

Seomara nodded. "I'll grab the fish we'll need for dinner too."

The blue haired woman's smile faded at that. "You still don't plan to eat that do you?"

Seomara rolled her eyes. "I'll grab one of the sturgeon if you don't like it."

* * *

"So, say it. I'm a much better cook, aren't I?" Seomara said with a smirk.

Ysolte considered the dish before her carefully. The blue haired fighter had been hesitant to try the first bite, but after the initial worry she'd eaten the grilled lamprey heartily. Frowning the woman crossed her arms. "Not as terrible as I expected. But you shouldn't be getting too cocky about your cooking. Three stars. Max."

"What!?" Seomara pounded the table and growled. Ysolte didn't show any sign of noticing. In fact the blue haired woman didn't show any remorse, even as she grabbed another bite. Defeated Seomara slumped back in her seat. "I guess the palate of a viscountess is higher then that of us commoners."

"No, you're just a mediocre chef." Ysolte hesitated a moment. "Though you're a mediocre chef now instead of a mediocre cook. You might be able to sell this."

"Hmph." Seomara returned to her own meal. She felt a little mollified though. At least Ysolte had admitted she'd improved.

After the two polished off their places, Ysolte stood. "So, can I use the bath first?"

Seomara started. "Well, uh-" she looked over at the oversized bath. She took a deep breath. "It is big enough for the two of us. With room to spare."

"When I said spend the night, that's all I meant." Ysolte's face was bright red, but she'd kept her composure well.

Seomara's cheeks were burning, but she managed to keep her voice steady. "I know. I promise nothing more than the usual awkward flirting will happen."

"You can skip that too, idiot," the other woman muttered, turning away. "Still, it is faster. And probably less awkward in the end. Yeah." She frowned as Seomara tried to check her face to make sure Ysolte was just being her usual self. "What? Shouldn't you be heating up the water? And point me towards the towels."

"Second closet closest to the door. There's soap there too." Seomara breathed a sigh of relief as she turned to start up the water pump. She didn't really want to pressure Ysolte into something that would embarrass her friend later.

A few alchemy crystals got the pump running, then she added two more to the tub itself to start the water heating. She hadn't really studied the alchemical arts, since using them for stuff beyond just simple household tasks required a lot of money and magical power. But she appreciated the amount of time they saved her here. Pumping water out of the reservoir below her house would be a pain, and properly heating the bath with fire would be beyond even her Milletian skills.

"I'd be jealous about all the conveniences you have in this house, but the place would be unlivable without them, so I suppose I can't complain much."

Seomara looked up to see a towel and washcloth flying towards her face. Skilled reflexes allowed her to catch the fluffy missiles, but the ends still wrapped around her hands and whapped her cheeks. She tossed the offending weapon over her shoulder and stood to face Ysolte. "You don't have them? I heard they were all the rage in Taillteann."

"That's the city of alchemy." Ysolte shrugged. "Besides, our house is pretty old. Refurnishing it would cost a lot of gold. Not every noble family is really rich you know."

Seomara nodded. "That makes sense." Most nobles had their wealth tied up in land from what little she knew. Which didn't mean they weren't filthy rich compared to most. Just that they couldn't rush out and buy the newest gadgets at whim.

Looking over at the tub, she saw the water had reached a good level. She hesitated for a moment, then opened the screen a little and started to take off her dress. Might as well get the awkward point over quickly.

She heard rustling from nearby as Ysolte started doing the same, but she kept her eyes focused straight ahead. She enjoyed the Bohemian dress' design, but it had a whole lot of laces that needed working on. Not to mention the work she had to do to tie up her hair. Occasionally she was tempted to cut it as short as Ysolte's was, but in the end her vanity always won out.

There was a light thump as Ysolte tossed her simple shirt and skirt outfit onto the screen to keep it away from any water. As she finished with her own dress she heard her friend enter the tub. She hastily removed her undergarments, tossed the ensemble onto the screen, then turned to get into the bath while using the oversized giant washcloth to help cover a little. She was a little embarrassed at the childish gesture, but Ysolte seemed to be doing the same, so she didn't pay it too much mind.

She gasped as she slipped into the water, the sudden shift in temperatures surprising her. Apparently she wasn't great at noticing temperatures, but she still could feel the difference. Ysolte manage to smirk at that. "Yeah. A hot bath like this on a cold night is nice."

Seomara groaned as she relaxed in the bath. The feeling of the warm water helped clear out her nervousness. "I've usually been taking showers in it to save water crystals. I'm an idiot."

"Seriously." Ysolte shook her head in disappointment at Seomara's foolishness.

Now that her brain wasn't treading on eggshells, she notice how much room the bath had, even with just the two of them in it. It had obviously been devised as a couple's bath, but since it had giants in mind it had ended up more like a family bath or hot tub.

"Hmph. I have to add not getting scars to the reasons to be jealous of Milletians."

Ysolte's words caused Seomara to look up and look the other woman over. Thin lines traced Ysolte's arms from martial arts training, while a faint ragged line along her side suggested a fall from horseback when she was a kid.

In comparison Seomara's body was unblemished. Not even a tan from her constant travels. Even if she had gotten marks like that, a simple rebirth would clear them away. Still both of them had strong figures, both from travel and training.

Seomara caught herself staring and looked away. "Ah, sorry." She hesitated a moment then said, "You're still beautiful though."

"Idiot." She heard Ysolte heave a great sigh. "You stink at this."

'At what?' Seomara wondered. But she didn't dare ask.

Ripples washed over Seomara's arms as Ysolte shifted in the water slowly. "We really are very different, Milletians and Tuatha de Danann."

Seomara looked up hesitantly at her friend's words. Ysolte was hugging her knees to her chest, while looking down at the water. The blue haired woman's expression made her feel like a knife was twisting inside her. "I... suppose that's true. But we still can feel the same things?"

Ysolte hugged her legs harder, then looked up at Seomara with tired eyes. "This mission you're going on. It's really dangerous isn't it?"

"Probably." Seomara took a deep breath. "Okay. It's really dangerous."

"But you'll go anyway. Because you need to, and because you want to help others. But also because you can keep fighting even if you get killed." Ysolte closed her eyes.

Seomara opened her mouth, then swallowed her words. She understood what Ysolte was saying. She would never die. She would live, endlessly repeating the same three years of her life, while Ysolte would slowly age. Very slowly. But time only worked one way for the Tuatha de Danann, and death was permanent. That was something Milletians could only hear about, not truly understand.

Finally she managed to look back up at Ysolte. "Yeah. I've never been afraid of dying. Afraid of the pain, but not death. I usually get annoyed when I'm knocked back to the soul stream." She took a ragged breath. "There was only one time I was afraid. Really truly afraid. It was the first time I rebirthed after we met." She blinked rapidly to help keep her composure. "I was afraid you'd forget me. That our time together would have just disappeared."

Ysolte's eyes snapped open, "Seomara…" The woman blinked a few times then smiled softly. "There's no way I could forget you. No matter what happens. You were part of one of the most important moments of my life."

"Yeah." Seomara managed to smile as well. "But I was still afraid." She sighed. "I guess it's too easy for us Milletians to just end up running around and doing things instead of actually _living_ with other people. We can't die, but a lot of us never learn to live."

There was a pause as the blue haired woman blinked several times, then slumped. "You're terrible at this. That was a horrible line. You stink."

Her jaw dropped at Ysolte's sudden shift in tone. "Well excuse me! I'm not a poet." Seomara sniffed.

Ysolte smirked. "Well I suppose I shouldn't complain that you're not perfect at everything, after all I said."

Seomara rolled her eyes and sighed. "Thanks for the support. It's always nice to be reminded I still suck at so many things."

The blue haired woman smirked more as she languidly stretched. Seomara felt her face catch fire again at the sight. A voice in the back of her head noted this was cheating, but she found she didn't care.

"Well you're good at fighting." Ysolte's smile faded. "So you better come back soon."

Seomara found her breath. "I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Good." Ysolte flushed a little and grabbed at the washcloth she'd let fall. "We should finish up before the water gets cold."

"You won't be able to derail conversations like that forever," Seomara muttered as she began washing herself.

"Honestly, I can't believe I used that trick," Ysolte muttered. "But that depressed look was annoying me so…."

"You started it." Seomara glared at Ysolte briefly before getting back to scrubbing.

The two women quickly finished up then grabbed towels to dry off. Ysolte hurried over to the fire so the chill air wouldn't freeze the water on her skin, while Seomara was a little more leisurely about matters. She didn't enjoy losing the pleasant heat of the water, but she didn't feel too terrible in the cold.

As Seomara reached up for her dress a thought struck her. It was pushing the envelope a little but given Ysolte's actions earlier, she thought it would be appropriate.

She carefully removed the outer semi-opaque layer of the dress and put it on, leaving the rest hanging. As a bonus she didn't need to bother with the various lacings. She paused for a moment to consider matters, then settled her face into a neutral expression and wandered out from behind the screen. Ysolte had changed back into her outfit, but was still facing the fire. "Do you want a nightcap or something," Seomara asked. "Or should we just go to sleep?"

Ysolte turned around. "Nah, I'm fi-pfhck" The other woman sputtered as her eyes widened. The blue haired fighter slapped both hands over her mouth, but didn't turn away. Seomara put a hand on her hip and smirked to show she'd won the point.

Finally Ysolte recovered enough to stomp her foot and turn away. "I'm going to sleep," she snapped, then hurried off to the overly large bed.

Seomara chuckled and moved to close the fire blinders, darkening the room. She then carefully worked her way over to where the giant bed was. She reached out to get in then remembered there was already someone present. "Um which side did you take, Ysolte?" she asked.

"Far side of course," she heard Ysolte mutter from further in. "You don't need to worry about falling on top of me."

She carefully slipped in under the covers then slowly moved in far enough so she wouldn't fall off the edge. She heard a rustle as Ysolte moved nearby so she stopped there.

"Hey, Seomara?"

"Yeah," she replied, turning to face Ysolte's voice.

She heard Ysolte sigh softly. "There's a lot of things we're going to have to work out aren't there. Not just as people learning about each other, but as Milletians and Tuatha de Danann too."

Seomara nodded, though she knew her friend probably couldn't see her. "Yeah. But I'm willing to try, if you are."

There was a rustle, then a faint warmth on her cheek as Ysolte reached out to touch her. "I'm willing to try too. But I need to take it slowly."

"That's fine." Seomara gently held Ysolte's hand to her cheek. "You've got a lot of things you have to worry about I'm sure."

Ysolte sighed, but her hand didn't move. "Yeah explaining this to my parents will be fun. Hopefully you'll make an impression on them. I don't want them to think I'm dating multiple Milletians."

"That would be awkward," Seomara said.

The two intertwined their fingers then slowly succumbed to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

Seomara yelped as she smacked into a locked door. Looking down she saw she'd used a red key on a green lock. "I really shouldn't reminisce in the middle of a dungeon," she muttered to herself as she picked the right key. It was a nice memory, but being skewered by a goblin would be both painful and embarrassing.

Her mind now fully on the task, she pressed on. Imps, mimics and goblins all fell to her swords and fists. Before she knew it she had was standing before the final door, key in hand.

She took a quick breather, then slipped the massive key into the door. The giant portal slammed open to reveal several wisps and floating swords.

Seomara's eyes narrowed as she considered the enemies. Neither of those foes were very aggressive, but if they did manage to swarm her, she'd be in trouble. Still she thought she had a plan.

Her first move was to run past a set of blades. The flying swords reacted, but they were slow. By the time they charged up mana, she was dashing towards a wisp. A solid punch followed by a knee to its... energy mass caused the creature to dissipate. She ran on then leaped up before crushing another wisp with a drop kick.

As she hit the ground a bolt of lightning struck her, but her armor quickly grounded it out. She rolled to her feet then ran up to the swords, which seemed to be charging another attack. It managed to summon its mana, just as she grabbed the largest blade and smashed it into the other two swords. The trio fell to the ground lifelessly.

With that a space had been cleared out. The other creatures seemed unaware of the fate of their compatriots, so Seomara was able to summon her own mana. Carefully she focused the energy into the power of lightning. When it crystallized in her mind she focused it in her mind and fired it at a wisp.

The searing bolt struck the creature to little effect, but it was foolish enough to believe it was facing a mage from that attack. The blob of energy rushed at her, and ran straight into her fist. A second blow put the wisp down for the count.

Seeing the attack had still not drawn the attention of the remainder, Seomara repeated the trick with the other wisp. This one took two kicks, but after that it stayed down.

Taking another quick look around the room, she found the wisps had all been subdued. She drew her swords and charged the rest of the monsters. The harsh clash of steel on steel always made her worry about how well her swords were holding up, but the magic enchantment on her foes cracked quickly. Soon she was standing amidst a pile of broken sword fragments.

The door out of the room slowly ground open. Seomara cautiously approached it to find a stone portal wrapped in chains with no visible lock. "I hope this is the seal," she said as she walked over.

Closing her eyes she focused her mana and tried the seal breaking charm Tarlach had taught her. To her surprise she felt a brief resistance, then a clatter resounded through the room as the chains fell to the ground. The portal began to glow, and a black aura filled the space in between.

Seomara took a deep breath and stepped though. There was the usual disorientation from a teleport, then she found herself in an empty black space. A strange blue and red energy bridge was the only point of reference.

Shrugging she continued over the bridge. The span narrowed, but not enough for her to feel worried about falling off. Then it widened again. She pressed on and-

She was standing in front of a large crater. The sky was hazy and overcast. The air was still, without even crows to disturb the silence. She felt heavy and tired for some reason.

Shaking her head to clear the disorientation she took another look around. It almost looked like she was in Tir Chonial, except there were no people, just a dried and desolate landscape. The familiar buildings stood, but the facades were rotting and crumbling.

"Hey. Everything went fine?"

Seomara turned to find Carnelia walking over from behind the bank, Blurpleberry close behind. "Yeah. The dungeon wasn't too much trouble." She looked around again at the dead landscape. "So this is Tir Na Nog?"

"Doesn't really look like it," Blurpleberry said.

"Yeah," Carnelia shook her head. "Perhaps it was a fantasy after all. Still, that's not why we're here."

"So if I might ask, why are you here?"

Seomara and her companions all whirled to face the voice, weapons at the ready. Halfway down the stairs a younger man with dark sandy hair in simply cut vestments stood looking at them. Seomara relaxed as the stranger stopped and planted his cane in the ground. "We are here to destroy the Glas Ghaibhleann. And may I ask who are you?" Carnelia said.

"Ah, I'm Dougal. I'm responsible for this town, and all its residents. Specifically, me." The man made an ironic bow.

"So, how did you get here?" Blurpleberry asked. "I'm pretty sure Tarlach didn't meet you here so you're obviously new."

The man sighed. "I was summoned here from elsewhere a few years ago. I doubt my summoner even knows about me though, and I'm not particularly pleased about the matter myself."

Seomara looked over the man carefully. "So how do you survive in this mess? It doesn't look like there's a lot of food."

"I know some magic that helps sustain me." He nodded. "In fact that same magic tells me you aren't normal humans yourself. You all seem to have a connection to elsewhere, though it is weakened by the passage between worlds."

Carnelia raised an eyebrow. "You can tell we're Milletians? That's some magic there. You must be seeing our connections to the Soul Stream."

The man shrugged. "Magic involving souls is of great interest to me given my current situation."

Seomara blinked as something occurred to her. "Wait, if our connection to the soul stream is being messed with, does that mean this horrible queasy feeling isn't going to go away?"

"Oh great," Blupleberry muttered. "A handicap."

"I actually might be able to help with that," Dougal stated. "I've been studying something known as the 'Added Soul Phenomenon.' Creatures summoned or banished forcefully will sometimes have their soul appear separately from their bodies. If you slay some of the zombies that have been summoned to the graveyard here, I might be able to strengthen your soul's connection to Erinn, and through that to your Soul Stream."

Seomara groaned. "Zombies? Ugh."

Dougal shook his head. "If zombies are a problem for you I advise you to return to where you came. They are the least dangerous of the creatures here."

"It's not dangerous." Carnelia sighed. "We've just done a lot of zombie slaying in the past."

"Eh. Might as well kill something." Blurpleberry drew his swords and started heading for the graveyard.

The two women looked at each other and turned to follow after. "We'll be back in a bit," Carnelia said.

"I won't be going anywhere for a while," Dougal said dryly.


	21. Chapter 21

Seomara sighed in relief as the strange feeling vanished. "Thanks. That was miserable."

"Don't mention it." Dougal stepped back. "So you all said you were here to destroy the Glas Ghaibhleann. Do you have any plans on how to do that?"

"I was planning to hit it with my swords until it died, but I'm guessing you think that won't cut it," Blurpleberry said.

Dougal smiled slightly at that, though the expression didn't reach his eyes. "Not likely. Glas Ghaibhleann regenerate from wounds very quickly. And you'll have to deal with the guardians of the beast as well."

"Right." Seomara cracked her knuckles. "Which is why we need to free the Goddess first. With her help we'll at least be able to get past Mores and Cichol."

Carnelia folded her arms. "The problem is we don't really know how to go about either. Other than the dingos, zombies and giant worms the only place of interest in this place is Albey dungeon. And I don't think just randomly wandering through will help there."

Dougal nodded. "No just wandering through Albey won't accomplish much. I've already done a fair deal of that. However in my wandering I learned something important." He held out a small green marble. "This is apparently an important key. Somewhere in this dungeon should be an item that will help lead you to the goddess. At least if the Fomors I asked were telling the truth."

Seomara reached out for the stone allowing it to roll about in her hand. "Jade. I haven't seen much of it since…" She frowned as she realized she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the semiprecious stone.

"Are we up for a dungeon crawl then?" Blurpleberry asked.

"We don't have anything better to do," Carnelia said.

Dougal nodded. "I wish you luck then."

Seomara turned and followed Blurpleberry and Carnelia as they trudged up the path to Albey dungeon. A few dingos growled at them along the way, but a hard glance from Blurpleberry usually led the wild dogs to look for better prey.

"I never realized how open Tir Chonial was before," Seomara said as they passed the crumbling healer's house.

"It's usually much busier," Carnelia agreed.

Albey dungeon looked similar to its counterpart, even down to the Goddess Statue. Seomara idly wondered why the Fomor had left that intact. Perhaps they couldn't touch it.

The trio arranged themselves on the runed platform before the statue and began checking their weapons. Seomara considered their setup and decided to stick to fists for now. Blurpleberry strapped a shield to his back, though from his expression he didn't really plan on using it. Carnelia on the other hand pulled out a strange cylinder to pair with her wand. "I didn't know you used battle alchemy," Blurpleberry said.

"Yeah, I've studied a bit." Carnelia sighed. "I can't recommend it for most people, but I've found a lot of Fomor aren't really knowledgeable about the arts, so it can give me a few surprises. Also I know how to use barrier spikes if we need to regroup."

"Ooh, that sounds useful." Seomara considered the complex weapon, then shook her head to dismiss the idea. She needed to master the fist before she started trying to learn other combat skills.

"Alright, are we ready?" She looked at her two companions. They both nodded. "Let's go then." She dropped the gem.

As the gem hit the floor the area faded away to be replaced with an entryway. But this dungeon entrance was different then the Alby she was used to. Gone were the rough stone and crude iron doors. This dungeon had finished walls, with elaborately carved reliefs on the support pillars and doors. It was obviously someone's home base or temple.

"It looks like the place that Tarlach and the others were in when they ran into Mores," Blurpleberry said.

"You're right." Carnelia summoned a firebolt to her wand. "We should be careful then."

Both women looked over as Blurpleberry summoned his horse. Seomara felt her brow twitching. The swordsman looked at them both. "What?"

Seomara tapped her foot on the floor. "Running down the halls on a horse doesn't seem careful to me."

"Fine, fine." Blurpleberry unsummoned the mount. The three turned back towards the entrance, and walked into the dark halls.

Soon the passage opened up into a room. A single chest sat in the middle. "Seems they have the same interior decorator at least," Blurpleberry said.

"Hopefully it'll work the same as well." Carnelia moved up to the chest while Blurpleberry moved to the center of the room. Seomara shifted her feet a few times, then moved to the edge to pick off stragglers.

Carnelia flipped open the chest, causing a bunch of red spiders to appear in puffs of smoke. Immediately the wave was slashed to ribbons by Blurpleberry's attack. Seomara found one of the two survivors and squashed it, while Carnelia blasted the other with her firebolt. A glimmering key lay among the bodies of those Blurpleberry had cut apart.

"Not impressed," Blurpleberry said.

Seomara had to agree. "It is kinda weak. Why hide the goddess in some place so poorly defended?"

"We'll see," Carnelia replied. "This is only the first level."

Carnelia's words turned out to be accurate. The spiders and rats were quickly replaced by skeletons and poisonous spiders, then armored skeletons. Some of whom were smart enough to use bows. Usually their attack technique worked, but sometimes a shield block or sheer luck would allow a foe to survive, and then one of them would take an arrow or sword cut.

"Where are they getting all these damn skeletons anyway?" Seomara asked as she bandaged a ragged arrow wound. "I think I've killed more skeletons then there are dead people. And then there are all the zombies we've killed."

"Maybe they glue them back together?" Blurpleberry mused.

Carnelia smiled as she healed the wound magically. "More likely they're using bone constructs."

"How tacky." Seomara sniffed. "You'd think if someone was going to go for the evil dark magic vibe they'd go all the way."

"In any case I think we might be nearing the bottom," Carnelia said as they stood and began walking down the hallway. "The Laghodessa have been thinning out. It's all intentional guards at this point it seems."

Seomara looked at her potion reserves. "We're doing pretty good then."

"Yeah," Blurpleberry rolled his wrists. "Let's hope that luck sticks when we reach the boss."

A few rooms later they found themselves facing the final door. "Is everyone ready?" Carnelia looked them over, checking for any hidden wounds.

"We're fine," Seomara said.

"Let's go." Blurpleberry unlocked the door and charged through. Seomara blinked then charged in after.

The room expanded into a hexagonal chamber, with runes carved all along the base. Six massive pillars stood within the room, while winged gargoyles of stone carrying swords almost as long as Seomara was tall ambled about. As the trio entered the creatures whirled with grinding motions. "You shall die here humans!" the closest one roared as the group charged.

Seomara cursed. Fists weren't great for fighting large numbers, but she didn't have time to switch to swords. She'd have to pick off the weak ones fast and hope Blurpleberry and Carnelia would draw attention away from her. She angled left, to where one with a thinner sword was standing.

The gargoyle roared and raised its sword in a two handed grip before swinging it down. Seomara responded with a kick to the flat of the blade. The sword hit the ground with a loud clang. She used the rotation of her kick to land a spinning hook into the creatures gut. Stone cracked as her iron knuckles impacted, and the creature folded over. Seomara stepped back then moved forward with a furious uppercut. "Haaaaaah!"

The creature flew backwards and landed in a crumpled heap. Two more gargoyles were approaching her. In the background she heard flames searing through the air, and a curse from Blurpleberry. It seemed her fellows were still fighting their own battles. She'd have to handle it herself.

She ran towards the closer one and leaped into the air. The creature moved to swing its sword, but she unleashed a drop kick. The heavy blow didn't send the creature flying, but it toppled back, interrupting its partner's charge.

Seomara found herself smiling as she concentrated energy into her fist. She'd managed to beat the odds! She waited for the final gargoyle facing her to approach. "I've got you now."

"Strike then puny human!" the creature taunted as it moved forward.

As the gargoyle moved into range Seomara stepped forward with all her will. The ground seemed to tremble as she flew forward, fist extended.

"Ha!" The gargoyle cried out in triumph as the blow slammed into its stomach with little effect. Seomara froze. Had it countered her will with its own?

Pain exploded through her body as the massive sword smashed into her side. The room span as she rolled through the air, then she screamed as she slammed into the ground. Agony spread through her side, and she could barely roll herself up to her knees. Her ribs were shattered and blood was leaking all down her side, but she managed to stand shakily.

It wasn't fast enough. The gargoyle stomped forward, readying a finishing attack. She couldn't survive another hit, even if she blocked.

"I won't let you hurt her!"

Firebolts slammed into the gargoyle from the side, sending the creature flying. Seomara gasped as Carnelia rushed forward, swinging her fire wand as a club. The gargoyle reared back in shock at the sudden assault.

Seomara's relief was short lived however. She saw the creature's focus return, and it gripped its sword tightly. If it used the same technique again…

"Syaaaaaah!" She screamed as loud as she could to help ignore the pain and pushed herself forward with all her strength. Her fist rocketed forward into the creature's side. Its effect was still blunted, but hairline cracks appeared.

There was a sudden jolt, then the pain ceased. She fell to the ground limply. She tried to stand, but her body wouldn't respond. *Oh. I'm dead again.*

She could only watch passively as Carnelia slammed into the creature from the side, knocking it down. As the gargoyle stood the dark complexioned mage raised her wand and summoned flames once more to it. With a flick of her arm the firebolt flew forth and crashed into the creature and blew through its head. The gargoyle collapsed back to the ground.

Carnelia took a moment to steady herself, then walked over to where Seomara was lying. The mage pulled out a phoenix feather then let the magical down fall on her corpse. Light flashed through her body, sealing her wounds. Seomara hesitantly stood, flinching at the lingering pains. "Thanks."

The mage shook her head sadly. "It's nothing. I'm sorry I couldn't help you earlier."

Seomara shrugged and turned to see how Blurpleberry was doing. The fighter stood atop three gargoyles, drinking potions as his cuts slowly sealed. "Those guys sucked," he said. "Things should flinch when I stab them damn it."

"Yeah," Seomara nodded.

"Well in the end we won." Carnelia thought for a moment. "Maybe I could teach you two some magic techniques."

"Probably not fast enough to make a difference," Seomara noted.

Carnelia sighed. "True enough."

"So let's see the treasure," Blurpleberry said as he headed towards the next room. Seomara gingerly stood and followed him, with Carnelia not far behind.

The room here was small, but simple in design. A small portal that probably led out stood at the far end, while a pillar with a black orb sat in the middle. Blurpleberry walked over to the orb and picked it up. "Huh. Seems magical, but I can't tell what it is."

"It's a key I think," Carnelia said as she moved up to look at the stone. "A dungeon pass. Judging from the enchantment I think that it will only work at dawn."

"Sounds like something that you'd use to protect a treasure room," Blurpleberry said.

Seomara looked at the glossy black stone. "Or a prison."


	22. Chapter 22

Seomara looked past the makeshift barricade to the zombies mindlessly stumbling into the desk they'd set up in front of the bank door. "I'm sorry, did you make a deposit here at this branch?"

"Guuuoooooh," the zombie moaned as it feebly scratched at the wood planks before it.

"Then I'm afraid we can't give you the brains in storage here. Please come back when you have a proof of deposit from the branch you stored your items at," Seomara replied primly.

Carnelia sighed. "Stop taunting the zombies, Seomara."

"It's their fault for being noisy," Seomara said as she walked away from the door. She knew she was being childish, but she didn't care. Much.

"I hope there aren't a lot more dungeons with this stupid time thing," Blurpleberry muttered. "Especially not dependent on the hour. If it was just day based we could have gone treasure hunting or something."

"Or we could have been stuck here for a week." Seomara sighed and flopped down next to the small fire they'd made.

Carnelia looked out one of the holes in the roof. "It should only be a few hours now. Besides you two were hurt fairly badly. You should take some time to rest."

"We heal fast, remember?" Blurpleberry said. The warrior paused then shrugged. "But whatever. We gotta wait so we'll wait."

Carnelia's response was cut off by a knock on the back door. The three looked at each other. Seomara stood. "Well zombies don't knock so…" She walked back and opened the portal.

Dougal stood there, cane in hand. "Good evening. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Sure." Seomara looked back to see if her friends had any objections, but they didn't seem to mind. "Just make sure the zombies didn't follow you."

"I dealt with the few that noticed me," Dougal said as he stepped inside. Seomara closed the door behind him.

The man walked over and took a seat on the banker's chair. "I have a small request for you. Given you've made it as far as you have I think you might be able to fulfil it."

Carnelia raised a brow. "What might that be?"

"I believe I mentioned the Added Soul Phenomenon before," Dougal said. Seomara and the others nodded. "This also occurs when a Glas Ghaibhleann is summoned. Often the soul ends up in a wisp or bird. Sometimes they end up as a human." The young man smiled grimly. "Such as myself."

"Wait so you're the Glas Ghaibhleann?" Blurpleberry fiddled with his sword hilts.

Dougal sighed. "Just the soul. I fear my body is the weapon the Fomors will be using." The man's eyes narrowed. "However if you can destroy my body I'll be freed to return to my home."

"Well, that was the plan, so sure." Seomara sat down next to the fire. "Do you have any suggestions on how to do that though?"

"Yes." Dougal tapped the ground with his stick. "Normally Glas Ghaibhleann are immune to magic due to adamantium in their construction. However I can sense my body isn't quite perfected yet. Magic should work against it."

Carnelia nodded to the man. "That is good information. Thanks."

"Then I'll leave you to finish the deed," Dougal stood. "You should probably head over to the dungeon. Dawn comes a bit early in this place, and it's hard to see due to the clouds."

The trio looked at each other. "Right." Seomara stood. "Thanks for the help again, Dougal. We'll do our best to destroy your body for you."

"Good luck," the man said.

Blurpleberry tossed a bucket of dirt on the flames while Carnelia adjusted her weapons and Seomara stretched. All the wounds from her previous death were healed up, and she was mostly rested. It was time to get things done. Then the three left out the back door, leaving the zombies to continue stumbling at the front barrier.

The trip up to Albey dungeon was uneventful. Soon they found themselves again standing before the statue of the goddess.

Carnelia pulled out the orb, then looked over at the others. "If this is where the goddess is held it will probably have strong defenders. Be ready for anything."

Seomara nodded and swapped to her swords, figuring she could drop them if she needed to punch things quickly. Blurpleberry stuck to his own blades.

Carnelia dropped the orb, and the room shifted.

Seomara blinked as she looked around. They hadn't appeared in the normal dungeon lobby. Instead they stood in an open room, a sealed door at their backs and an open hallway before them.

"Strange," Carnelia said, looking around the room carefully.

"Well at least we're saving time," Blurpleberry said. "Are those chains similar to the ones holding the portals to this dimension shut?"

Carnelia turned to look at the sealed door. "Yes actually. But I think they're a bit stronger. I'd need time to break through."

Seomara raised her short swords as figures appeared in the hallway. "I don't think we'll have that time right now."

Three loping figures moved into the room, each breaking off to face one of the adventurers. With their furred bodies and lupine features Seomara immediately pegged them as werewolves. As Blurpleberry ran forward to engage one and Carnelia summoned more magic, Seomara sheathed her blades, then set in a stance and waited.

To her surprise the lycanthrope also took a stance. "At last a worthy opponent." Then it rushed forward. Seomara worried a little about this being a trap, but there wasn't time to change plans. She struck forward.

The punch sailed right past her foe's block into his hip. She followed up with a high kick to the head, then spun around into a sweep. As the wolf man fell down she rushed forward and unleashed a flurry of blows knocking the creature far away.

To her surprise the lycanthrope jumped to his feet. "Excellent. This will be fine training." The creature rushed her again, leaving her no time for chain techniques. Instead she ducked the first sweeping claw then blocked the second. Stepping inside the creature's reach she elbowed the werewolf's solar plexus, then rolled away as it bit at her.

As the two fighters reset their stances, she saw her comrades were similarly frustrated. Carnelia was blasting hers against the wall over and over, but it rose again every time. Blurpleberry had sliced off his foe's arms at the shoulder, but the lycanthrope merely howled and regrew the limbs.

Carnalia swapped to her cylinder and fired a blast of water at the creature, but that too had no effect. Seomara backed away from her own opponent. How could they beat these foes?

As she retreated her foe leaped at her. There wasn't time for a proper counter. She rolled onto her back then used her hands for a rising windmill kick.

The werewolf yelped as he was repeatedly kicked in the head. It crashed to the ground and rose shakily, confused by the damage. Seomara moved forward and repeated the attack. This time a solid blow crushed the creature's neck and it lay still.

Carnelia knocked her own foe towards where Blurpleberry was standing. "That's the technique! Blurpleberry, dizzy them with spinning attacks!"

"Done." Blurpleberry smashed his blades into both foes with his whirling attack. As the two fell he caught them again, tearing both in half. The creatures did not rise.

"Yes!" Seomara pumped her fist in victory.

*Thud*

She froze as heavy footsteps began to move towards them. "I guess we aren't done."

The trio assumed a spread out defensive formation again as the new monster approached. Carnelia swapped back to her wand after reloading her cylinder while Blurpleberry drank a potion to regain his stamina.

The thunderous approach became louder and louder until the form of a giant green golem burst into the room, followed by a small horde of metal skeletons. Worse there were more figures approaching from further in.

As Carnelia blasted the lead skeleton Seomara rushed the golem. She tumbled past its lumbering advance, then kicked out its rear leg as it moved to step on her. As the golem fell down she rushed forward onto its chest and began pounding on its magical center. Several solid blows later the animating force collapsed. As she rolled off she saw Blurpleberry shatter the rest of the skeletons with a twirl of his blades.

The fight wasn't over yet though. A nightmarish cross between horse and man clopped on two legs into the room. The strange creature had a hazy aura around it that made Seomara uneasy.

Blurpleberry simply moved to engage it, leading with a strong double slash. The creature whinnied in pain, then roared as Carnelia's magic blasted it back. Blurpleberry leaped into the air to finish the monster.

There was a clang as his blades bounced off the creature's skin.

"The hell?" Blurpleberry narrowly ducked the creatures punch as it stood up.

Carnelia tossed off a lightning bolt, which fizzled as it struck. "It's developing a resistance to our attack styles!"

Seomara rushed forward with a solid punch hoping her martial arts would be different enough. "Ow." She winced as her knuckles seemed to strike pure steel, then flipped away as the humanoid unleashed an uppercut.

"Your attacks are futile!" the horrific creature cried triumphantly.

"Really?" Carnelia swapped back to her cylinder and fired off another water blast. It slammed into the beast, knocking it to its knees.

The nightmare looked down at its bruised and swollen chest. "What was that? Why can't I take it?"

"Oh you didn't get immunity?" Carnelia asked with a smirk. "I guess I'll use this to kill you then."

Blurpleberry casually trotted in between the monster and the mage. "Don't think about interrupting her. You can't be hurt by my swords, but I bet I can knock you down."

The creature roared and charged, straight into Blurpleberry's swing. The warrior's boast proved true, as the humanoid was sent flying back. Carnelia blasted it again, and it cursed in impotent rage.

Seeing her friends had things handled her Seomara looked back to the corridor. More figures were approaching. Suits of armor with empty helms. She moved to handle them before they could leave the tight chambers.

The first one reacted to her attack with an impossibly quick stab, but her body instinctively slapped it aside. Her return hammer blow sent its helm spinning, and she finished it off with a crushing punch that tore its breastplate open.

She flipped away before the rest could mob her then rushed forward again. She leaped into the air towards the lead armor, then kicked with all her might. The hollow knight was sent flying through the air down the corridor, smashing into the six others behind him.

Seomara couldn't help but smile as she slowly regained her feet. "That was awesome!"

Her smile faded as the six armored knights regained their feet. She hesitated a moment. Then turned and ran. Six on one was bad.

As she retreated into the room she nearly stumbled over the corpse of the nightmare humanoid. Blurpleberry moved to take her place with a nod. "Good work. We'll finish the rest."

Carnelia moved up to her side with a wand out, but it wasn't needed. Blurpleberry ran into the crowd and began slicing at everything that moved. Several of the knights got in blows of their own, but the first few were deflected by a shield of mana, and the warrior weathered the rest. Soon the swordsman stood over a pile of broken armor.

Silence fell. All three of the adventurers peered down the hallway looking for more enemies. After a long minute they slowly relaxed.

"Now for that seal," Carnelia said.

Seomara followed the others to the chained door. Carnelia looked the structure over again, then placed her hands on the door and closed her eyes. Seomara looked back towards the other entrance briefly but it seemed all the enemies lying in wait had been cleared out.

A few moments passed, then there was a crack as the chains burst, then evaporated into dark motes. Carnelia opened her eyes. "It's done." The mage seemed to hesitate a moment, then pushed open the twin doors.

Just as this hadn't been a normal dungeon, this was not a normal treasure room. The large circular chamber only contained a small dais. At first glance it seemed empty, but as Seomara stepped into the room a veil of light swept over the stone. As it passed a figure in white robes with black wings became apparent.

Morrighan clasped her hands together as if in prayer. Her eyes didn't open, but she turned to face each of the Milletians one by one. "Seomara, Blurpleberry... Carnelia. I thank you all for freeing me. With this you have severely hampered the Fomor's plans."

Seomara blushed at the praise. "It was nothing. Well no it was kinda hard but anyone would do it right?"

Morrighan smiled. "I wonder... But in the end, you were the ones who did it."

"So will you be able to help us wipe out that Glas Ghaibhleann?" Blurpleberry asked. "That'd make this trip a lot easier."

The goddess shook her head mournfully, eyes still shut. "I fear my imprisonment has left me weakened. I can give you some power, if you wish it, and I can lead you to where Glas Ghaibhleann lies. However, I think it would be best if I gathered my strength. There are other seals about designed to prevent me from breaking free, and I need to see to destroying them before I can face Cichol."

Seomara nodded gravely. "So we should be moving to fight the Glas Ghaibhleann ourselves then."

Morrighan nodded, but then smiled again. "Yes. But I believe in you three. You should have the power to face a Glas Ghaibhleann and win."

"Then we both should be on our way," Carnelia said. "Can you give us the pass to where the monster lies?"

"Yes, though I fear it is better guarded then this place." The goddess shook her head. "Cichol depended on stealth, misdirection and unique creatures to guard me. The workshop where Mores labors is fortified with the best guardians the god of the Fomor can spare. There won't be as many tricks, but there will be many foes."

Blurpleberry nodded. "Good. It'll be a challenge."

Morrighan held out a small medallion. Seomara hesitantly reached out and took it. "This will lead you where you need to go. I don't know how much time you have, but do not be too hasty. Make sure you are ready before pressing on."

The goddess waved her hand and Seomara felt her weariness and injuries fade away. "That should heal your physical ailments. When you have prepared your minds press on, with my blessing."

The room spun, and suddenly Seomara found herself standing at the altar of Albey dungeon again. She looked over at Carnelia and Blurpleberry. "Do we need anything else?"

Blurpleberry shook his head. "I'm ready."

Carnelia looked over her weapons for a bit before replacing the cylinder with her puppeteer bars. "I don't have as many crystals as I'd like for a long confrontation. But we can't exactly go back to resupply, so this will have to do.

"Right." Seomara inspected her own weapons and armor and decided they were fine. There was a little wear, but nothing that would impair her fighting. "Then should we go now, or wait a bit to see if the goddess regains a bit more strength?"

"Now," both Carnelia and Blurpleberry said.

"Glas Ghaibhleann could awaken at any moment," Carnelia pointed out.

Seomara nodded, then took a deep breath and dropped the medallion.


	23. Chapter 23

This time they found themselves in a more normal dungeon. Blurpleberry stretched, then took the lead as the trio headed down the stairs.

The battles began as soon as they tripped the first chest. A swarm of poison kobolds appeared, then screamed in rage as Blurpleberry slashed them to the ground. As the tough monsters began to rise Seomara drew her blades and performed her own whirlwind attack, finishing off half of them. She looked over to see Carnelia had done the same on the other side.

"We'll all have to work on crowd control it seems." Carnelia adjusted her grip on the control bars.

"Maybe I need better swords," Blurpleberry muttered.

Seomara performed a few practice swings to get her swordsmanship back up to par. "I don't think we're going to find anything here in the dungeon, so we should probably press on."

Blurpleberry merely grabbed the key from the fallen and began heading off to the next chamber. Seomara and Carnelia followed.

The rest of the floor was a blur of steel and blood. Sometimes weak foes would appear and Blurpleberry would hack them all down. Usually their combined efforts would slaughter the room. Occasionally something stronger would spawn, or a foe would dodge an attack, and Seomara would find herself locking blades with a Fomor.

When they reached the first stairwell down Carnelia held up a hand for another rest break. "Give me some time to replenish my mana. Healing takes a lot out of me."

A growl from below caused Seomara to raise her blades again. Blurpleberry cursed. "Looks like we'll need to clear one more room before that rest."

Three waist high black dogs with fiery eyes bounded up the stairs. "Hellhounds!" Carnelia yelled. "Kill them fast, before they can use their magic!"

At those words Seomara dropped her swords and rushed in with a punch. The demonic dog yelped as she flattened its nose, then whimpered as she kneed it three times in the head. A final punch to the hellhound's spine put it away for good.

Turning she saw Blurpleberry pinning his foe to the wall, while Carnelia had used magic strings to hold her foe in place. Seomara took advantage of that to line up her strike, then finished the demon off in one blow.

Carnelia sighed in relief as it fell. "Good. Those things can cast fireballs. It would be embarrassing to die like that. And it might have caught all of us."

Blurpleberry eyed the creatures. "Good thing they die faster than they cast."

"Yeah." Seomara walked over to recover her blades. "So I guess we can rest now?"

"For a little while," Carnelia said as they sat down. The mage closed her eyes and began meditating.

Seomara turned to her other companion. "So... is this enough of a challenge for you?"

"Sorta." The man shrugged and frowned. "I'd like better rewards. And there's something still missing. Maybe when we get to Glas Ghaibhleann..."

Seomara nodded, but she didn't really understand. Or maybe she did. It was more exciting than the cakewalks she'd done before. But so much was at stake...

She shook her head to clear it. Worrying about those details weren't important. Right now she wanted to win.

A few minutes later Carnelia opened her eyes. "Alright. I'm ready to move on."

"Let's go then." Blurpleberry jumped to his feet and headed down the stairs. Seomara and Carnelia followed.

The second floor was no easier than the first. Hordes of enemies spawned, many immediately dangerous. Blurpleberry however continually blunted the initial attack, while Carnelia and Seomara crushed the weakened foes. They'd fallen into a rhythm, so while their enemies had gotten stronger, Seomara found herself dueling less often.

As they reached the second staircase, they cut down another lycanthrope almost without noticing. Only its disappointed howl told them of its passing. The trio looked at each other in surprise. "Maybe we should take a breather, in case we run across a foe who doesn't fall to our usual attacks," Carnelia said.

"Not a bad plan," Seomara replied.

Blurpleberry hesitated, then nodded. "I am a little tired. And I don't want potion poisoning."

This pattern continued for two more levels. The next floor brought a return of the gargoyle, but the massive creature's ability to shrug off blows didn't matter against three fighters. The fourth floor brought a wave of armored skeletons who knocked both Seomara and Blurpleberry over before Carnelia finished them. Then as they headed down those stairs a wave of hollow knights appeared, managing to stab Carnelia before being destroyed.

As they traversed the sixth floor Seomara was much more cautious. They'd healed up from the previous fights, but mentally the dungeon was starting to wear on all of them. Even Blurpleberry was slowing down. The alternative was a fatal mistake, and none of them wanted to die.

Finally they reached a slightly larger chamber with huge double doors. "This might be it," Carnelia said with a relieved sigh.

"A pity it shall be the last thing you see."

Seomara whirled to see the Dark Knight from Tarlach's memories stride into the chamber, flanked by two hollow knights. The black armored figure pointed his sword at them. "Your journey ends here."

"Take the knights! I'll handle the 'Dark Lord,'" Carnelia said as she pushed forward.

Seomara was worried about her friend, but she followed the suggestion. She rushed straight at the left knight. As before the creature met her charge with an inhumanly fast strike, but Seomara leaped up and kicked it in the face. As the armor reeled she dropped her blades and hammered the chest piece until it cracked.

The screech of metal turned her attention to the other fighters. Blurpleberry had taken the hit instead, but had positioned it so his armor bore the brunt of the blow. Carnelia on the other hand was backing away from the dark knight now.

"Carnelia!" Seomara yelled as the evil warrior raised his blade. Carnelia hopped back, then smiled as she threw out her control bars.

Streams of energy flew out and wrapped around the man binding his movements. The dark lord reared back, struggling against the bonds. "What?!"

Seomara wasted no more time. Putting all of her energy into her fist she slammed it into the warrior's chest. "Augh!" The dark armored figure flew across the room.

To her surprise he rose again immediately. "Hrm. Those tricks. I should have recognized them earlier. I shall have to prepare myself for our next meeting." With that the black armored figure turned and fled.

Seomara started to run after him, but a hand fell on her shoulder. She looked back to see Blurpleberry shaking his head. "Our foe's behind that door right now."

"I don't like letting people like that survive," Seomara muttered, but the warrior was right. They needed to finish matters here.

Seomara moved to back up Carnelia as the mage slowly pushed open the massive doors. The three adventurers strode into the room as the portal opened.

The space was massive. Bones and body parts hung all across it. "Did we get here before they finished?" Blurpleberry asked.

"I'm afraid not."

Seomara snapped into a fighting stance as two figures approached. One was Mores, the other was the false Morrighan. "Glas Ghaibhleann is completed," the fallen druid said. "And you shall be its first victims."

"Wait Mores," Carnelia pleaded. "That's not the real goddess! You're being used!"

The black robed druid just snapped his fingers and turned away. The room began to tremble as the false Morrighan said, "Now foolish humans, meet the fate of your race."

Seomara stepped closer to her two friends as the shaking intensified. "I don't think they're listening." Above them, the bones ripped from their hooks whirled together. There was a flash of dark light, then a blast of pressure. Seomara braced herself against the wind, then gasped at the sight before her.

The Glas Ghaibhleann stood tall. Taller than any giant. Taller than any golem. Seomara guessed the creature was easily over thirty feet tall. Its stomach was thin, but its torso was huge, probably to support the four massive arms. The two lower arms held giant cleaver blades, each bigger then she was. Broken and twisted white wings jutted from its shoulders. Its strange stooped stance allowed its head to look down on them without bending its freakish neck much. And finally, leather, steel bindings and bandages covered it in a patchwork fashion, the most obvious being the blinder placed over where its eyes should be.

It reared back its body and screeched in rage before ponderously stepping towards them.

Seomara slapped her cheeks to try to focus. How could she attack something that huge? What could she do to even damage it?

Her comrades seemed to have no such worries. Blurpleberry ran forward, swords set to stab into it. Carnelia was focusing on her wand, summoning flames to it.

As Blurpleberry stabbed the monster's thick leg an idea came to Seomara. She couldn't damage the vitals, but she should be able to slowly break a leg. Perhaps that would slow it down enough for Carnelia to finish it. She began to move forward as Blurpleberry dodged a strike from the one of the giant cleavers.

The monster roared, and black mist sprung up around it, revealing six lesser gargoyles. Blurpleberry cursed and began whirling between the monsters, trying to clear out the lesser threats before they overwhelmed him.

Seomara saw it as an opportunity. She rushed forward and smashed a fist into a gargoyle's stomach then used its head as a springboard. She flew up high right to the monster's knee and landed a perfect drop kick on it. She heard bone strain and crack, then she was falling down.

The creature squealed and swung one of the massive cleavers at her. She froze in terror as she realized there was nothing she could do to dodge. The massive steel wall grew larger and larger.

Then it jerked away as flames struck it. Seomara thanked Carnelia with all her heart right before she crashed into the ground. She immediately rolled to blunt the impact and managed to lurch to her feet.

One of the gargoyles that Blurpleberry hadn't gotten around to murdering yet was waiting for her. She managed to recover her footing just in time to hop away from its sword strike. She retaliated with a shoulder rush, doing little damage but sending it next to her warrior companion. Blurpleberry chopped off its head before turning to face another summoned wave.

The Glas Ghaibhleann had decided to ignore them and turned its full fury on Carnelia. The mage however wasn't backing down. She unleashed another concentrated blast of fire that made the creature take a step back. Then she began focusing again.

Seomara moved to try to slow the monster down. Carnelia was obviously doing something different to get such concentrated bolts so quickly. The damage the woman was throwing out was quickly exceeding the creature's ability to heal too. She needed to let Carnelia keep casting as long as possible.

She rushed through the gargoyles, pausing only to trip one for Blurpleberry. She dashed past the massive legs, stopping just before the creature and focusing all her power into her fists.

As the mighty giant stepped past her, she aimed, then unleashed the most devestating strike she could into the creature's Achilles tendon.

The beast screamed its wail, then lifted a foot to crush her, but she was already tumbling away. She smiled as it whirled back towards her. If it ignored her to attack Carnelia she could keep nibbling at it, but if it attacked her Carnelia would destroy the beast. She watched the feet to try to predict its next move.

"Look out!" Blurpleberry yelled. Not seeing any danger, Seomara hesitated then edged backwards.

The energy blast landed right in front of her, then swept upward. Seomara cried out as light and pain flooded her eyes. The beam raised her up, then flung her away. She whimpered as her body hit the wall then rolled back onto the ground. She felt sore, and scorched. Still she pushed herself up. She wasn't dead yet.

Through her pain she saw Blurpleberry slashing gargoyles left and right while retreating from the superior numbers. His robes were bloody, but he fought on.

The Glas Ghaibhleann wailed, then reared back, probably as another bolt hit it. Seomara managed a stumbling run forward, just in time to see the beast hit by flames once, then again as it stepped forward.

Seomara was just entering charging range when Carnelia's blast smashed the creature's knee. The giant crashed to the ground, the impact knocking everyone off their feet. The giant monster began pushing itself upwards with two arms, but Carnelia cast again, and the beast's head rocked back. The red clad mage whispered one final spell, and the creature's head exploded.

At that the two remaining gargoyles turned and fled. Blurpleberry didn't pursue, instead dropping to one knee to rest. Carnelia shook her head to clear it. Seomara just drank two potions as she limped over. She needed some healing.

"Well you defeated it. You are much better than I expected."

Seomara whirled then stumbled. As she caught her balance she saw Mores and the false Morrighan walking into the room. "Still the bones of a Glas Ghaibhleann should make it immune to magic."

"That's right. If it were properly constructed." Mores continued walking forward, then turned to face the false goddess. "However I tainted the adamantium, weakening its protection. After all it needed to be destroyed."

"Mores, you betrayed your goddess?" The false Morrighan looked hurt as it turned towards the druid.

The druid cut his hand through the air sharply. "Stop lying Cichol. I've seen through your disguise."

Seomara gasped. "You knew?" Carnelia asked.

Mores sighed. "I feel foolish it took me so long to realize it, but yes. The goddess would never have ordered me to murder my own child."

"You humans are so foolish. You knew yet you still continued to do my bidding." The fake goddess vanished revealing Cichol's true form. Seomara shuddered. The white wings and dark black hood with no sign of humanity was just as intimidating in the flesh as it had been when she'd traveled as a ghost.

"I imagine you're proud that the beast was killed, but it doesn't matter. After all the plan was to have it destroyed." Cichol snapped his fingers, and the giant exploded into greasy smoke.

Seomara tried to hold her breath as the dark wave washed over her, but it was no use. The ugly black fumes seemed to force themselves into her nose. It smelled like rot and putrescence, and the mere hint of it caused her to gag and wretch. That forced her to breathe in, and soon she was on her knees heaving, throat burning and stomach aching as she desperately tried to purge the fumes. She heard her comrades collapse as well.

"What? What was the purpose of the Glas Ghaibhleann then?" she heard Mores cry from a distance.

Her teary eyes saw the darkness begin to spin towards where the body fell. As the darkness gathered, a patch of fresh air hit her and she threw herself towards it. She lay on the ground and heaved in good air as the miasma pooled into a darkness that seemed to break through the floor.

"When the Glas Ghaibhleann dies it releases a massive amount of dark erg. With these Milletians here, at the lowest point of Albey, this dark power will allow me to tie the shadow realm closer to Erinn." Cichol laughed. "The stage is finally set. Now my invasion can begin."

"I won't let you get away with this Cichol!" Mores began charging a blast of energy.

Cichol raised his hands. "You seek to pit your powers against a god?"

Seomara tried to stand and aid the man, but the toxic miasma of the Glas Ghaibhleann had sapped her strength. She saw Blurpleberry holding himself on one knee with his swords, and Carnelia drunkenly stumbling forward, but none of them could help in battle.

Mores' first blast slammed into a shield of light. Cichol began his own chant, summoning dark powers to himself, as Mores called up his own shield.

Swirling energy streamed from Cichol's hands and exploded in a darkness so deep it was blinding. Seomara blinked her eyes to clear away the light, and managed a weak smile as she saw Mores standing there.

"I've learned your tricks god of the Fomors. Your spell can't hurt me," Mores boasted.

"Indeed? Well let's see who it can hurt."

Seomara gasped as the black robed god began casting again and turned towards her and the others. Mores flinched as well, then began running in front of the dark god.

Her hand shot forward as she desperately tried to intercede. "No! Don't!"

Mores leaped in front of the blast just as Cichol released it. The dark energy ripped open the elder druid, slamming him into the ground in a brilliant explosion of darkness.

Seomara stared at the fallen man, tears filling her eyes. Why? She couldn't die right? And even if the attack could hurt her he shouldn't have sacrificed himself. Why?

"Pitiful human, your efforts were in vain." Cichol began chanting again, and Seomara knew this time the blow would strike.

Rage and frustration filled her. "I won't die like this!" The words helped push her to her feet, and she managed a slow shaking step. Blurpleberry was moving forward as well, using his swords like canes. Carnelia was trying to cast, mana flickering in and out of reality.

And it was all worthless. The dark god's spell would complete in seconds.

Light burst into the dark room causing Cichol's spell to shatter. The dark god took a step back as black wings snapped open. Morrighan stood where Mores had fallen, the goddess radiating a power she hadn't before. "I order you to stop."

"Morrighan? It seems you Milletians have some skill after all." Cichol warily faced the goddess.

"Cichol. You have disrupted the human world, and used my appearance to do so." Morrighan's expression hardened. "Your lies destroyed a good man, and turned him against his fellows. As the goddess of revenge, I cannot overlook this."

"Lies?" The dark god laughed hollowly. "I gave him no lies. Death, destruction, betrayal. All of these things are human creations." The black robed figure clenched his gloved hands into fists. "Only when humanity is exterminated can the true beauty of Tir Na Nog be achieved!"

"You know this will only lead to the death of more Fomors? How can you ignore your own people like that?" Morrigan shook her head sadly.

Cichol pointed at the goddess. "How can you continue to support the humans?! They have the world of Erinn all to themselves, but they taint it with their evil and greed. All Fomors burn with the desire to destroy the humans and bring true paradise!"

"The humans may have yet to bring forth paradise. But the cries of those mourning your misdeeds have reached me even in my prison." Morrighan's wings flapped. "As the goddess of revenge I must punish you for your evil acts!"

"With you still weak from imprisonment?" Cichol turned to walk away. "I think not. We'll battle another time goddess." The black robes began to fade, but he turned one last time. "You three. Carnelia, Seomara, Blurpleberry. I will remember you."

And then the god was gone, leaving only a corpse and a hole in reality in his wake.

Morrighan turned towards the three and waved her hand. Seomara sighed in relief as the pain in her body vanished. "I'm sorry. I tried to get here in time, but I was too late. It took me too long to regain enough strength to face Cichol."

"So what now?" Seomara looked at the dark hole of miasma.

"For now rest. You have defeated the Glas Ghaibhleann. Even though it upset the connection between the worlds, it was still better to destroy it here, then to let it loose among the people of Erinn."

Carnelia started to ask a question, but stopped as another pillar of light appeared. The solemn figure of Nao spun to the ground and kneeled next to the broken form of Mores. Seomara stepped forward to ask the woman why she was here, but the tears forming in Nao's eyes made the truth clear.

"Yes," Morrighan said. "Nao was once Mari. I took her into the soul stream after she passed away here. Now she sends her father on to his final destination."

Seomara felt her own eyes tearing up as Nao wordlessly closed the old man's eyes, then lifted her arm to the heavens. Carnelia and Blurpleberry moved next to her to stand in vigil, as the old Druid faded into light, then slowly dissipated into the sky.

The Goddess raised her hand, and Seomara's body suddenly felt light. "I shall return you three to your own world. You have achieved a great victory today. But soon I will call upon you again I fear. Take care, heroes."

There was a sensation of falling, and then her body jerked upright, as if she'd awakened from a deep sleep.

Seomara looked around. They were in Tir Chonail. The real Tir Chonail. The busy marketplace swirled around them, with buyers dashing between stores and sellers hollering out their wares.

Her eyes met Blurpleberry's and Carnelia's. She saw the same pain and weakness she felt in herself. They had won, but it didn't feel like a victory.

Carnelia put her hand in between the three of them. "Next time, we settle this."

Blurpleberry put his own hand in. "Agreed. I'll be stronger next time."

Seomara wiped away her tears, then took their hands. "Next time we destroy Cichol, and all his plans."

The three squeezed their hands together, then slowly stepped back. Seomara felt like something was undone. Something important. She didn't want it to end like this.

But in the end there was nothing to do. For now.

"I'll see you around," Blurpleberry said as he turned away and began to rush off.

Carnelia hesitated, then opened her arms to offer Seomara a hug. Seomara sniffed, then embraced the older woman. It felt childish again, but it was comforting.

"If you ever need anything, tell me," the woman said.

They slowly parted and Seomara nodded. "Same. Call me if you're ever in a bind."

"I will." The older mage turned and began walking down towards the moon gate.

Seomara looked around the marketplace. She still felt like she needed to do something. But she had no idea what.

Her eyes fell on the bank, then the familiar signpost.

Sighing she walked over to the stone edifice, scratched out a quick note, tossed it in the mailbox, then lay down on the fields of Tir Chonial to wait.

The sun arced across the sky. Then the moon. Seomara waited patiently, occasionally eating to stave off hunger.

As the sun started to rise a familiar blue haired figure appeared, walking up the hill. Seomara stood and dusted herself off before managing to wave. "Hello Ysolte."

Worry and happiness flashed across the other woman's face. But Seomara obviously didn't manage to hide her dark mood from her friend. "I take it things didn't go as planned?" Ysolte asked with a frown.

"Not exactly," Seomara said.

Ysolte walked over and sat down, patting the ground next to her. "Wanna tell me about it?"

Seomara nodded and sat down again. "Yeah, if you've got the time."

"I'm listening," Ysolte said.

Seomara took a long breath, focused her mind, then began to tell the story.


End file.
